Free Republic

On April 24, 2024, Gary R. Sanchez filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Rob Bonta, representing the State of California. The suit alleges California banned firearms suppressors in violation of the Second Amendment. Sanchez acted as his own attorney in the case. The district judge granted AG Bonta’s motion to dismiss the case, finding suppressors were not covered by the Second Amendment, because they were “only” accessories, not “arms”.Sanchez appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 6, 2024. The Ninth Circuit has historically been one of the circuits most openly defying Supreme Court...

On November 18, 2024, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery issued a statement of support for the use of firearms suppressors as a means of reducing the risk of hearing loss. From entnet.org: The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery endorses the use of firearm suppressors as an effective method of reducing the risk of hearing loss, especially when used in conjunction with conventional hearing protective measures.The article contains a paragraph clarifying that the publication and organization are not making a legal or political statement. They are stating a medical fact.The references listed with the statement make...

The number of legal suppressors in the USA is almost certainly over five million. The National Shooting Sports Federation (NSSF) revealed a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which was finally answered this summer. The total number was 4.86 million at the end of July 2024. From the NSSF: In a recent Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), NSSF received from ATF the additional number of silencers from May 2021 to July 2024. An incredible 2,193,123 more suppressors are protecting the hearing of hunters and shooters. That means a whopping...

In October, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade association, reported that Americans owned 4.9 million silencers as of July 2024 according to data provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).1 Compared to previous reporting, this updated total reflects an alarming surge in silencer sales: In the first six months of 2024 alone, Americans purchased and registered a staggering 1.4 million silencers.The data shows that between May 2021 and July 2024, a mere three-year span, Americans accumulated nearly as many silencers as were registered in the previous 87 years — since the National...

Brandon Maddox and Silencer Central is an American success story. Brandon went from a Federal Firearms License (FFL) in his home to the largest silencer dealer in the USA. Today, Brandon’s companies dominate the silencer/suppressor market, regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA). This correspondent met Brandon Maddox at the 2024 SHOT Show. Brandon had read several AmmoLand articles, recognized this writer, and started a conversation. Brandon graciously agreed to be interviewed. This is the first in a series of articles resulting from several interviews.Brandon was born in Alabama. His father spent a tour in the Army after a Reserve...

On January 18, 2023, at the SHOT Show, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) hosted a slide show on what has been happening in the National Firearms Act Division of the ATF. This presentation did not explain the ramifications of the controversial “new rule” on stabilizing pistol braces. It was an overview of the internal happenings in the NFA division of the ATF.This correspondent has seen many such presentations in other organizations in his career. There is useful information to be gained. Do not expect bureaucracies to air their “dirty laundry” in public. Each agency and each...

From some time in 2019 to the present, the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, has been running an Operation Silent Night to intercept items coming from China that can be used to make suppressors/silencers. The operation has seized a lot of material, with relatively few arrests. The items seized are routinely marketed as solvent traps, fuel filters, or pill containers. As most of them do not have holes so that a bullet can travel through them, it is difficult to prosecute people for importing a “silencer” or even “silencer parts” when similar items...

The same person who invented the muffler for the automobile invented them for guns. Hiram Maxim, the inventor, called them “Silencers”. An obvious reason they were not invented earlier is the inside of a gun muffler is more complex than a gun barrel. Early silencer designs were made of mild steel, making them subject to corrosion. A silencer for a gun using black powder would require a significant effort to clean after each use. Smokeless/non-corrosive gunpowder did not become common until about 1900. At that point, gun mufflers became more practical. Increasing prosperity in society, brought about by technical innovation...

Image from Marine.mil Knight Armaments Company Suppressor on M38 cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten The Marine Corps is well on its way to procuring suppressors (silencers) for all small arms in its arsenal.In 2020, the Marines have procured 6,700 suppressors for M4, M4A1, and M27 rifles. Suppressors are in common use with the M38 squad designated marksman rifle.Another 7,000 suppressors are in the pipeline. The goal is to have about 30,000 suppressors by the fiscal year 2023. From Defense Visual Information Service:In 2020, PM IW procured about 6,700 small arms suppressors through Defense Logistics Agency’s Tailored Logistic Program, and...

Marine grunts in close combat formations will start receiving suppressors for their small arms at the end of this year, Task & Purpose has learned. Marine Corps Systems Command on Thursday announced its intent to award a single-source contract to Knight's Armament Company for 5.56 small arms suppressors for use on the Corps' arsenal of M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, M4 carbines, and M4A1 Close Quarter Battle Weapons.

Some of the usuals anti-gun suspects in the Senate have proposed new legislation that would ban suppressors following a shooting in Virginia Beach, Va., in which the perpetrator a handgun fitted with the device. But the problem is, this particular accessory is already one of the most regulated by the federal government. The Help Empower Americans to Respond (HEAR) Act is being introduced by Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez (NJ), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Richard Blumenthal (CA) and Tim Kaine (VA), all of whom claim — wrongly — that suppressors are ‘silencers’ in the true sense of the word and that as...

The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request to take up a challenge to a federal law requiring the registration of some firearms including silencers. Challengers in the case believe the Second Amendment protects such firearm accessories. An appeals court had held that a silencer is not a "bearable" arm protected by the Constitution. The case comes as a silencer was used during the recent Virginia Beach massacre and President Donald Trump suggested he'd look into restrictions on gun silencers. The Trump administration had also urged the court not to take up the issue. The order was issued without comment...

If you've seen a Welrod for the first time, you might not realize what it is. When disassembled, it resembles a piece of industrial equipment, the sort of thing you might find in an obscure corner of the hardware store next to caulk dispensers or hot glue guns. In fact, it was nicknamed the "bicycle pump" by those who used it. It also has no easily-identifiable markings or symbols on its plain metal body. This historically-significant weapon has a very specific purpose: silent use behind enemy lines. Although the secretive nature of this gun makes tracking its use difficult, reports...

Gun porn.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) claims the attacker who opened fire on Las Vegas concert goers was only stopped “because he didn’t have a silencer on his weapon.” According to the Washington Post, Kaine asked, “Can you imagine what this would have been if he had silencers on those weapons?” His use of the word “silencer” is an echo of other leftists like Rosanne Cash and Gabby Giffords, both of whom use the word “silencer” to describe suppressors.

Two days after an attacker opened fire on concert goers in Las Vegas, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) announced he was shelving legislation to deregulate suppressors. -snip- Ryan has now shelved the Hearing Protection Act, which was introduced into Congress on January 9; it is the legislation containing suppressor deregulation. The Act does not legalize suppressors–as they are already legal–rather, it removes the burdensome process for acquiring them and erases the federal tax that must be paid in order to receive permission to posses one. House Speaker Paul Ryan says NRA-backed bill to ease regulations on gun silencers is shelved...

In 2015 the Hearing Protection Act, which would deregulate suppressors and remove a $200 per unit ATF tax, was introduced into the House. Since then, a few different versions have been up for consideration. Now that Republicans are the majority in Congress and with a Republican sitting in the White House, the bill has a decent chance of passing. Not surprisingly, gun control zealots are opposed to the bill for all the wrong reasons. On Tuesday, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand falsely claimed witnesses can't hear gun shots that come from suppressed firearms and argued deregulating this piece of hardware would...

Kalamazoo, Michigan, Department of Public Safety Chief Jeffrey Hadley will appear with gun control proponent Gabby Giffords Monday to argue against suppressor ownership by “everyday Americans” and to oppose national reciprocity for concealed carry. Hadley is one of 20 law enforcement officers who have agreed to be part of Gabby Giffords’s “Law Enforcement Coalition for Common Sense.” The group will be announced Monday and will talk about “reasonable” gun control on Capitol Hill. Hadley claims national recognition of concealed carry permits will lead to a setting where “there [could] be more people carrying weapons that shouldn’t be.”

Video of me talking to my Congressman, Rep. Kevin Brady, about the Hearing Protection Act. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7rmPUXbdBo

The Marine Corps is considering suppressing all small arms. Military organizations have historically been slow to adopt new technologies. They have been slow to adopt optical sights, which were overwhelmingly adopted by sportsmen long before they become common for ordinary soldiers. In the U.S. that was during the first Gulf War. Suppressors have been commonly used by sportsmen around the world for decades long before widespread adoption by any military. The United States is the exception, due to irrational regulation. The Marine Corp is in the process of equipping an entire battalion with suppressed small arms. From ameriforce.net: In...