In 2010, two years after SilencerCo started operations, there were 285,000 silencers on the ATF books.
At the end of 2014, there were 792,282 silencers.
That extrapolates to over a million silencers registered with the ATF today.
This isn’t on the hush-hush (bad joke, bad joke)
The waiting period, depending on how you submit your application, is 6 months to a full year. This is totally unacceptable for a device that prevents hearing loss.
The 200 buck tax is bad enough.
Those are pretty astounding numbers given all the hoops you have to jump through with the tax stamp and related paperwork.
Would be interesting to see the ownership split between govt, business and private citizens. I suspect the later has grown at a higher rate than the other 2. Suppressors are easier (as in cheaper) to own b/c their manufacture hasnt been capped. I suspect MGs would be experiencing the same renaissance if new could be held by other than govt.
At $200 each, the ATF is making some $$.
I’d be willing to bet that the government would eliminate the tax and subsequently make their registration really easy, like drones are now, because it would essentially be a “freebie” means of firearm registration...
A million silencers? $200,000,000 in tax revenue if each silencer was only registered once.
Call it the second object on the list of totally skewed perceptions propagated by American entertainment. Switchblades had “West Side Story”, and silencers had countless assassin movies where the quiet “phut” sound signalled someone’s nefarious demise.
It would be like movies ganging up against mufflers in the early part of the auto business. Honest people would be depicted in blaring, deafening cars, and mufflers would only be used to creep up for bank robberies.
Remember back in the 1980s when it was found a two liter soda pop bottle worked as a decent silencer for several rounds.
Someone started making an attachment for them and the FEDS promptly taxed it out of existence.
Must-have product for the future.
I bought 3 Silencerco suppressors in the past 12 months. Had zero before that. They are going mainstram.
These are accesories, not guns.
There should be no tax.
There should be no registration.
I am not going on another govt red list for this sh1t.