Proposal to lower US silencer taxes

[BobTheTomato]

I guess if the dollar keeps going down $200 wont be so bad

 

[brighamr]

I second the idea of treating a suppressor the same as a firearm. Still have to go through NICS, etc BUT you don't have to pay $200 per can, and you don't have to wait 6 months for the ATF to get off their azz and approve it.

Seriously, I bought an AR recently. It's so loud I can't shoot it around my dogs, so I bought a suppressor for the sole purpose of shooting quietly. That was 45 days ago and I haven't even heard if my application was accepted/reviewed/etc.

 

[freakshow10mm]

It won't be off the NFA list, just lower the tax.

 

[Deleted member 66305]

In the UK, they call them "moderators" and they're common.

Yes, but the firearms they fit are now uncommon.

 

[TX1911fan]

I'd love a $5 tax. That alone would bring probably knock the price of suppressors down by 25% due to the increased demand. I'd guess that a total price of $400 for suppressor and tax would come down to around $155.

 

[waterhouse]

The Federal government requires that all suppressors be registered with ATF in order to be legal. States have no say in the matter except that is some states the regulations are more stringent than the Federal requirement.

I don't think that is what he was getting at. I don't have the exact law handy, but here the state law basically says:

1. Suppressors, Short barreled rifles, machine guns, and other NFA items are illegal.
1.a. It is a defense to prosecution if the item listed in 1 has been registered with the federal gov't in accordance with NFA laws.

So, in other words, those items are only legal in Texas if they are registered with the Feds. If tomorrow the Feds suddenly said we could buy a suppressor at Walmart, that suppressor would be illegal by state law, since it was never registered. From what I have read we aren't the only state with a weirdly worded law such as this. One way around this is to continue with the current system, but just lower the tax.

 

[fletcher]

^ I'm pretty sure NC is the same way. Lowering the tax to some trivial amount would at least be a good start.

 

[madmike]

The language is well worded and the justification sound. You could even petition around shooting ranges, because it will reduce noise. People would like that.

Don't call them "silencers" for such debates. They are "devices that moderate the muzzle blast of a firearm to a level that avoids hearing damage and reduces noise pollution."

Or similar language.

Yes, I'm aware they should be sold at the counter with the earmuffs. The problem with being an all or nothing person is that since you can't have it all, you get nothing.

$5 and NFA is a perfect compromise. Who really cares if the Feds know you and 5 million other shooters have a can? Why argue over a $5 tax? Isn't it reasonable to lower the tax in order to protect hearing, beautify our outdoors, save the ears of our poor animal friends, yadda yadda yadda.

Win-win.

 

[brighamr]

"$5 and NFA is a perfect compromise"

especially when demand skyrockets and the ATF bumps the wait to 9 months due to all the paperwork. Sounds perfect to me...

not all or nothing, just treat them like firearms. Why treat them with hightened security? Will a can shoot someone by itself? Nope

 

[bamawrx]

I would also prefer a title I transfer, but I could also live with the $5 tax. The NFA should also be amended to allow for repeat streamlined application.

I think tx1911 has a good point about the economies of scale. It would definitely have an impact on the prices. Maybe higher at first, and over time much lower due to the ES.

 

[ctdonath]

$5 is a fine first step, requiring only a trivial change to existing & accepted law, with fine precedent in the AOW category. If most MG collectors would be content seeing their collections' value drop 90% to overturn 922(o), surely we can put up with a temporary increase in processing time for suppressors.

"it's only *wafer* thin..."

 

[Mike OTDP]

El Tejon is spot-on. Suppressors should be Title 1 (or unregulated, but that's going to be harder to get). And their use strongly encouraged.

 

[pete f]

I have a fear that if they are made easily accessible some dimwit in the CDC or HHS will somehow pass a law that they are REQUIRED for all uses.

sorta a catch twenty two. we win by getting them, but we loose when they are required by law.

 

[LAR-15]

A BILL
To amend Federal law by lowering certain taxes on sound moderating devices regulated by Internal Revenue Code.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

It's a health issue

Not all guns can use silencers

 

[wdlsguy]

Lowering the tax from $200 to $5 would definitely be a step in the right direction. Take enough steps in the right direction and you arrive at your destination.

 

[RancidSumo]

I like it. We will never get them unregulated completely but getting rid of the tax would be a vast improvement. I believe it is also the angle we should push for with machine guns.

 

[LAR-15]

Should the tax be five dollars or something else?

 

[Yellowfin]

The problem is mainly the low numbers of them sold due to regulation. If they were more widely available the manufacturers could sell more of them and the price would come down. The $200 isn't as much of the problem as the $800 retail price tag created because of the $200 and the paperwork.

 

[ctdonath]

Getting the tax to $5 is easiest because AOW items are already taxed at $5 instead of $200; changing the law just means moving suppressors from the latter to the former tax rate. Easiest to move something from one category to another existing category, rather than trying to create a whole new category.

 

[Limeyfellow]

Need an OSHA angle on it... "reduced noise pollution and hearing loss"

It's a safety device for the health and well being of all involved...

Just like a muffle on an IC engine.

I agree. It was disgusting on the reason it got added in the first place. You have a great depression and they crack down on anything to help the ordinary people survive as it might hurt the odd landowner slightly. Of course most the gun control laws, antidrug laws, property laws and so on that came about in this period were cracking down on the rights of the lower classes and immigrants too.

Pretty much anywhere else in the world it is a common device, and praised for keeping down the noise to the surroundings and helping cut down the damage to hearing. It has great uses in the home for fighting of home invasion, has tremendous use in hunting, at the firing range and most other situations that it should have come off the list along time ago.