Will the Hearing Protection Act open up for buying Silencers over the counter like scopes or slings?

We can only hope.

No, as I understand it it will be like buying a firearm. No $200 tax and 6+ month wait.

If it passes I expect we'll see a boom in integrally suppressed guns, with things like the Silencerco Maxim 9mm pistol and integrally suppressed AR uppers leading the way. Like in Finland I expect we'll see a lot of "rebated" suppressor designs for hunting rifles that add relatively little to the overall length.

We can only hope! and write/call our congress critters to support it!

As to being the same as buying a length of pipe at home depot, I give the about the same chance as gun laws being rolled back to pre-66.

If it does get passed, I think it is likely that the media-driven fears around them will be silenced (pun intended). But I think it would much, much, much harder to get them to a point where you could purchase them without having to do at least some type of paperwork. If this act changes how cans play with the NFA Registry, the 4473 would still provide an opportunity to maintain a (de facto) registry.

Like Wally, I'm really excited about the potential for integral suppression. I could see it setting the carbine market ablaze, and all sorts of firearms chambered in .22 selling in record numbers (with even greater demand for ammo )

No tax stamp, paperwork...man if that goes through there is going to be a line of folks buying up suppressors.

I suspect enforcement would be difficult. It is perfectly legal (under Federal regs) to make firearms for personal use, as evidenced by the current popularity of 80% lowers. There is no registration or paperwork unless it is transferred. Silencers are substantially simpler products which can be made without specialized tools in most home workshops. How would one define which part or parts constitute a complete or substantially completed silencer that has to be serialized and go through the 4473 process? A threaded cap for a maglite, maybe. What about a nut from a hardware store in the same thread pitch, or a tap set? Without the onerous process and severe consequences currently in place, I foresee silencers becoming extremely common and very inexpensive within a short time. Which is quite alright with me.

You just know the first time there's a mass shooting with one there will be all hell breaking loose blaming the new administration for it.

I'm actually holding off from making a purchase of one just to see if the act gets through to save the $200. The uncertainty has probably put a lot of people into the same frame of mind, so if the acts passes it will be an absolute boom time for manufacturers.

I'd buy one for the BREN for hunting.

The intent is to get them out from under the '34 NFA. Take it one step at a time. We as a people tend to do things with baby steps as a concession for opponents - just the same game they play with us.

If all it takes is a NICS check to start with, then the real issue isn't getting one, it's the huge number of start up companies who will be attempting to cash in on the bonanza making semi reputable silencers, Then the adapter wars will start over which one will be the "standard," which doesn't exist yet. Which will precipitate the Adapter of the Month marketing and the fan boys lining up to defend their special super powered lump of steel. Just like holes in handguards.

On one hand, yes - silencers should be a hardware store item you can buy anytime you want and need - and super owner collectors with nothing better to spend their money on are welcome. On the other hand, going thru a NICS check to buy one means it restricts the market to those who will commit for that service, and shields the general gun owner from outrageous claims the anti gunner's will propose no matter what - like the current churning of flying with guns in your luggage. That topics getting quite a workout right now.

Long run, the victory chips away at the NFA and makes it vulnerable to further attack with simple logical arguments about it's whole substance. This anti gun scheme has been going on long enough and it opens the door to questioning what is the real point - and does it make any difference now? Plenty of other nations don't have nearly the restrictions we do, others go too far. If we are the bastion of freedom then we need to shoulder the responsibility that goes with it - which is the real problem our opponents eagerly point out as being a failure every time gun violence occurs.

Re-legalizing suppressors would be a good baby step toward the goal of repealing the '34 NFA and '68 GCA, not necessarily in that order. A plus would be making an over militarized tax collection agency superfluous.

As an Illinois resident, I'll take ANYTHING I can get. I suppose I should start saving up, just in case, as I need three or so.

Without the tax and paperwork, I would expect basic models for 22s well under $100 within a year or so. Right now there are no "cheap" suppressors available simply because the cost and hassle factor precludes high volume manufacture and sales. What would be point of creating a trust or undergoing police fingerprints and paying $200 for a cheap item which may not last? Once these become "firearm" items that you can legally maintain yourself ( such as replace baffles) then prices will drop significantly.

illinoisburt said:

Without the tax and paperwork, I would expect basic models for 22s well under $100 within a year or so. Right now there are no "cheap" suppressors available simply because the cost and hassle factor precludes high volume manufacture and sales. What would be point of creating a trust or undergoing police fingerprints and paying $200 for a cheap item which may not last? Once these become "firearm" items that you can legally maintain yourself ( such as replace baffles) then prices will drop significantly.

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There are at least two companies that already have rimfire suppressors under $100. If the licensing requirements are removed and the big boys get into the game I'd expect to see a basic rimfire can for around the $40-$50 mark. Centerfire suppressors I'd expect to see in the $140-$150 range.

80% kits would be selling for $20 on eBay.

The bill is designed to keep silencers as NFA weapons but waive the stamp, tax, and approval requirement (and consider them "registered" without actually registering them). This is because so many states ban silencers that are not "registered" with the Feds.

The text of the current bill is not yet published at Congress.gov but the 2015 bill just said:

Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(f) Firearm silencers.—A person acquiring or possessing a firearm silencer in accordance with Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as meeting any registration and licensing requirements of the National Firearms Act (as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this subsection) with respect to such silencer.”

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Mike

I'm sure we'll see the 1 & 2 liter plastic coke bottle adapters again - sold by dealers for whatever profit they can coax out of a $1-$2 piece of metal (or more likely, plastic). Friend had one in south Georgia and it was a flat-out hoot with a 10/22 & standard velocity rounds until the Gestapo came calling and told him he had to go through the paperwork for every bottle, or surrender the adapter. Sieg, Heil!

We can only hope. My prayer is that the cost of the suppressors themselves comes down considerably too. Those things are stupid expensive, IMO.

Not that it matters, my ears will still be ringing, forever. Tinnitus sucks. I bet they'll still be ringing when I'm dead.

Hope this goes through. I don't particularly care about suppressors for the range, since I'll still have to use hearing protection due to other shooters. I really REALLY would like to have a suppressed house gun, though. If (God forbid) I ever have to shoot an intruder, I'd just as soon not risk hearing damage for myself and any nearby family member.

As I understand it, the law will just ove suppressors from Title II over to Title I, so a 4473 and all that attends that .

But, that's a good start.

Prices will plummet, almost certainly. But, I'll also wager that a "premium": market will emerge as well. Just as there are $400 1911 there are also $2000 examples.

The really critical question will be whether SOT will still be charged for the 07 builders out there. It would be patently unfair to tax builders when home shops are not--but, that would require logic and reason inside the Beltway, a commodity rarer than hen teeth.