Posted on 07/06/2021 7:11:53 AM PDT by marktwain
On 15 June, 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed Texas HB 957 into law. The new law removes the Texas prohibition on firearm suppressors, commonly known as silencers or gun mufflers. From the bill:
“Firearm suppressor” means any device designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm.
From the legislative history, it appears silencers, suppressors or gun mufflers were first banned in Texas in 1973. Although they were banned in Texas law, there was an affirmative defense from prosecution if the gun mufflers were legally possessed under federal law, as shown in this AmmoLand article from 2014.
As you can see, lawful registration in accordance with the National Firearms Act is a “defense to prosecution”. In Texas, any “defense to prosecution” has to be disproven by the state beyond a reasonable doubt. If reasonable doubt is established that the item in question is properly registered, the state requires that the defendant be acquitted.
Texas changed the affirmative defense to clear law with the passage of HB 1819 in 2017. It removed the sweeping prohibition of silencers from Texas law, but granted sovereignty over silencer regulation to the federal government. The federal government requires a payment of a $200 tax and numerous regulatory requirements to possess such items. From the federal statutes:
The terms “firearm silencer” and “firearm muffler” mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
So, we can set up a box in the back yard and target shoot now?
They should have removed the ban on SBR, too.
The truth needs to be repeated wherever possible that firearm suppressors can be bought in multi-packs in hardware stores in England yet the U.S. Federal Government illegally infringes on not only the inalienable right to keep and bear arms, they also infringe on hearing safety.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
or knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or
sells:(7) a firearm silencer, unless the firearm silencer is
classified as a curio or relic by the United States Department of
Justice or the actor otherwise possesses, manufactures,
transports, repairs, or sells the firearm silencer in compliance
with federal law.
So if the silencer were properly tax stamped under the NFA, I fail to see what ban is being removed by the state of Texas, other than losing the penalty of being charged under both State and Federal law if found in possession of an unstamped "solvent trap."
Control the narrative: these are “hearing protection devices”.
Good.. if you can own a gun then you should be able to own accessories.
Wow, with all these laws being passed in Texas allowing just about anybody to have any kind of weapon they want, I guess Texas will soon be out doing Chicago in it’s murder rate and mass shootings.
Any day now!
(/s)
I get you humor, but what should scare the holy h out of the common Texan is the liberal migration from blue states. They tend to bring their dystopian culture with them.
There are as many hogs feral hogs in Texas as the population of Austin. You need a silencer and a subsonic .22 rimfire with a good night scope for that special head shot that drops the pig where it is feeding yet does not disturb the rest of the pigs feeding nearby.
And that is why you need silencers in Texas. They have the largest feral hog population in the USA, and need all the help it can get.
In the last five years, I have only found one arrest for a person for possession of a silencer in Texas.
There is almost no federal enforcement.
You will have to work at being arrested for possession of a suppressor without a federal tax stamp in Texas.
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Good, but I only want the ones as quiet as those in the movies. Can I get those?
Correct. This is usually a charge they use to ‘pile on charges’ when one commits a greater offense, etc.
Under new Texas law, I believe it means the cops can’t arrest and DA’s prosecute you for a gun muffler. Federally registered or not. Good cops won’t even ask.
Yes. The next time you Star in a Hollywood Action flick...
NYC ALREADY DOES THIS TYPE STUFF IS WHAT GOT GULIANI ELECTED GOVERNOR. BROKEN WINDOW THEORY BROUGHT THE RATES WAY DOWN, IDIOTS FORGOT, AND ELECTED LIBERALS, IT CLIMBED AGAIN.
400 SHOOTINGS, 150 DEAD https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-july-4th-holiday-weekend-400-shootings-150-dead-gun-violence-20210706-mqorbsc3ijhufm3wgabj4k3ev4-story.html
CHICAGO 80 SHOOTINGS 14 DEAD https://www.theepochtimes.com/officials-more-than-80-shot-14-dead-over-july-4th-weekend-in-chicago_3887354.html
I’ve been looking more at some of those nifty compensators on microcompact pistols. :)
A .22 subsonic round, out of a long rifle barrel, fired through a suppressor, the loudest sound is the bullet hitting the target.
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