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Posted on 05/13/2025 8:55:43 AM PDT by absalom01
So what’s happening to the bill in the Ways and Means committee? We’d guess it’s realpolitik. It sounds like Cox and Rep. Kustoff have recognized that they have a snowball’s chance in Hell of passing the bill delisting suppressors and rather than throwing their hands up and saying, ‘Oh well, we gave it the old college try,’ they’ve decided to take a big step in the right direction.
A tax stamp has cost $200 since it was enacted as part of the NFA in 1934. While inflation has whittled the real value of that away over the decades, it’s still not nothing. Add that amount to the price of a good suppressor — which will run you anywhere from $300 to $1300 depending on caliber, materials, features, etc., that’s still enough to discourage a lot of people from buying one. Beside the fact that it’s just plain insulting to pay Uncle Sam $200 for no good reason at all, most people would rather put those two Benjamins toward more ammo.
But what if a tax stamp costs only $5? That would be much more than just “a welcome change.” Lots of us pay that much for coffee every day. A $5 tax stamp would effectively be de minimis. Combine that with the fact that average eForm 4 wait times these days can be counted on the fingers of one hand and the hurdle to suppressor ownership would be almost nonexistent.
Yes, you’d still have to fill out the Form 4. Yes, you’d still have to submit fingerprints. Yes, that’s all blatantly unconstitutional (or should be adjudicated as such in a Supreme Court ruling).
But once again, we live in the real world. A world inhabited by sniveling, linguini-spined politicians on the “good” side and venal gun-hating hacks on the “bad” side. A world with billionaire-backed civilian disarmament operations run by hoplophobic gun-grabbers who operate by sowing fear and work on a daily basis to limit Americans’ gun rights. A world where anti-gun stenographers in the media are only too happy to further the messaging of the gun control industry.
In short, delisting silencers from the NFA simply isn’t in the cards. We’d love to be proven wrong, but it’s just not a realistic possibility now (or likely any time soon). And that probably accounts for what’s happening behind closed doors in Washington.
So…what if the average gun owner could sidle up to a SilencerCo kiosk at their local gun store, fill out the Form 4, submit their fingerprints right there, and pay only $5 on top of the cost of the can? And what if they could then pick up their can the same week? That would open up suppressor ownership to tens of thousands (if not more) people than today. And that’s something that should be done if it can be.
While it’s not ideal, it’s unquestionably a big step in the right direction. And if that’s what can be achieved right now, we’d call that a win.
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That may well be the case, we've been betrayed before, but in this case, the Shooting News point of view seems a lot more like reality.
Of course we should keep pushing for the end of the NFA (and the GCA and all the rest), but progress in the right direction is still progress.
If we can get the tax reduced to a minimal annoyance that's a step in the right direction. And when we have the votes to kill the rest of the NFA, well, I'll celebrate that as well.
The old saying:
Perfect is the enemy of the Good..........
And halfway there.
Not really.
Far too often this statement exemplifies the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Typically what happens is people throw this statement up of "Sometimes We Have to Take the Good When the Perfect Isn’t an Option" and they utterly fail to explain why their choice is any good at all.
We used to get bashed over the head with "Perfect is the enemy of the Good" when it came to the Bushes, we got bashed with it when it came to McCain, and we got bashed with it with Mitt Romney.
Not a one of them was any good at all. No good at all.
So we get left with the choice of perfect and nothing. Perfect is way better than nothing at all.
In reality, this statement is only a weapon.
“A world inhabited by sniveling, linguini-spined politicians on the “good” side”
You failed. (the author, Zimmerman)
You could not explain in any way how a linguini-spined group has any claim to “good”.
A linguini-spined group is, not, good. Full stop. Is. Not. Good. linguini-spined politicians do not deserve to be called “good”, they have not earned it and they do not deserve it.
Five Bucks ...?
.
Still it’s an infringement
For Hearing protection.
.
Yes.
It's about freedom.
Freedom from asking permission to buy something that is practically required all across Europe.
Freedom from being on a registry and subject to an "inspection" visit at any time by an out of control agency.
Freedom from having ATF goons break down my door looking for suppressor parts.
Suppressors and SBRs may not be your particular oxen being gored by backstabbing politicians in this instance, but they will betray anyone and everyone eventually.
My thoughts exactly 💯
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