Firearms noise is a problem. Acording to the internet, the science is settled that noise pollution directly contributes to man made global warming. Let us take action at once to save the Earth.
Suppressor are the solution to gun noise. One of the complications with owning suppressors is a confusing law, the National Firearms Act. Suppressors are not illegal under federal law, but they are taxed and require paperwork and permission.
Here is the definition of a silencer from the ATF website:
National Firearms Act Definitions
Silencer
For the purposes of the National Firearms Act the term Silencer is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(24)
The term “Firearm Silencer” or “Firearm Muffler” means any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for the use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.
The only characteristic needed to make a device a “Firearm Silencer” is “diminishing the report of a portable firearm”. I guess you could chain your gun to a shooting bench as a workaround, but the standard is unreasonable. Not to give the ATF any ideas here, but theoretically, if I replace a 16 inch barrel with a 24 inch on my AR, the 24 inch barrel is a silencer because it will measurably diminish the report of my AR.
Watching Adam on The Legal Brief explain the leaked ATF Whitepaper gave me an idea.
We are not going to get the Hearing Protection Act passed any time soon, but maybe we don’t need to completely de-regulate silencers, let’s re-define them into something more reasonable in the name of common sense gun laws.
How much noise do guns with silencers make? Here is a chart to make the science number apply to real life:
The reason silencers are called silencers and are regulated is the belief that hit men will have silent killing weapons other than the knives, swords and impact weapons humans used before the invention of gunpowder. Though I do not agree, I see their point that a silent weapon could have some criminal applications and safety issues. Electric cars are a danger to pedestrians for this very reason.
If the Hearing Protection Act fails. lets change the law to re-define silencers as a device which diminishes the report of a firearm below 30 decibels. That means that there is still a comfortable report that tells you the gun is firing without all the perceptions of silent death. The hearing you save may be your own.
