How about a moment on Silencers, Suppressors and Moderators?

When researching my last book, "Judgement Daze", I had occasion to do some digging into the history of that piece of weaponry that the casual observer would call a gun silencer. I think the background is interesting enough to share with y'all.... particularly since it appears that 'Silencer Sales are Booming'. 

First of all, let's set the ground rule understanding -- unlike Hollywoodies like to portray them, there ain't no such thing as a gun silencer. Period!  There are only sound suppressors. A handgun or rifle with a suppressor attached still sounds like a gun - and goes bang! Not silence, not phffft, not pew.... they go bang!  But with much less band and flash than a weapon without such an attachment. 

So, back to the topic of suppressors (we'll get to Moderators in a minute, loosen yer shorts).

Here is the curious part. I can go to my local sporting goods shop, Bob's Big Bass, Sports Academy or Acme Guns and Checkerboards --  make a gun selection, whip out my picture ID, my trusty VISA card, fill out a simple form .... and be on my way with my 9mm or 30.06 weapon of choice in less than a half hour. 

However, if I'd like to be able to go to my neighborhood shooting range or to my back 40 acres and do some range practice and plinking without causing damage to my ear drums or offending my neighbors and fellow shooters - I need to pile on the ear plugs, the sound equalizing headsets or some such.  Because....

If I want to buy a suppressor for my 9mm Beretta or my AR-15, I need to fill out the necessary paperwork, enclose a photo, and my fingerprints, write a check for $200 and send them to the ATF for approval. Best case scenario, I'll get my suppressor license 9 months to a year later!  BTW, that's only good for the one suppressor -- if I want a second one for the rifle --- duh, guess what?

This of course begs the question - why can I buy the weapon in a half hour and yet have it take a year to get permission from my friendly ATF department to buy a suppressor for it?  Well hell folks... that answer is spelled Big Gob'mint, just like so many of our woes in modern America. In 1934 (yep, exactly 80 years ago) the National Firearms Act (NFA) was passed... and in that omnibus, comprehensive bill, it was determined that only gangsters and bad guys wanted suppressors, so the law included the ban on the sale of said suppressors. 

The truth of the matter was, and still is, despite what Hollywood sells, that gangstas and hoods that shoot each other and/or hold up 7/11's and liquor stores don't use or want suppressors on their handguns.  They don't want them because their sheer size (see picture) make it ne'er impossible to conceal their weapon and -- they don't use them because if they do fire a shot - they want all they noise and flash they can achieve to obtain the chaos and fear that they need to inspire in the victims. 


Before I leave the gangster meme, think back to the 1930's depression era, when bank robbers were doing their thing, and Chicagoland gangsters were machine gunning each other --- did you ever read anywhere that they wanted to suppress the sound of their gun fire?  Nope, neither did I. 

So, who were the Feds protecting us from?  You ain't gonna believe this... but the evil doers that caused this ban on suppressors were American hunters trying to feed their families during the depression by hunting wild game ......  ( you are permitted to shout eeek here) --- out of season.  Yessir, those varmints were going out into posted woods and national parks and harvesting meat for the dinner table.  Kind of like Robin Hood did back in his day --  poaching the King's deer and birds.

Kind of gives you pause for thought doesn't it. Another example of why some of us think that every Federal law ought to be automatically sunsetted (expired) every ten years unless Congress renews it with a new vote!

I promised to get back to those Moderators. Here is the ironic part..  in the United Kingdom where some of the toughest gun control laws in the world exist, one can buy a Moderator (English terminology for suppressor) with the same ease that they can buy a long gun. No additional restrictions...   Ain't that a hoot!!  Yet here we stand, in the USA, and our Federal bureaucrats who cling to any vestige of power they hold over our personal lives.... refuse to relinquish their authority over this mere add-on piece of sports weaponry!  Because they can.

Next time you go to the firing range with your ear plugs, sound equalizing headsets and such like, close your eyes for a minute and think just how much more enjoyable the experience would be with suppressed weaponry in that next next shooter's hands instead of the cannon sounds he is generating!


If interested in this topic, for more, go to one of these links or just Google "suppressors, silencers, moderators"

http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/22/news/companies/gun-silencer-sales/index.html

http://bearingarms.com/why-are-folks-buying-silencers/