why does anyone want a "silencer?"

[tark]

Asked my Liberal son...I asked him why he wants a muffler on his car...

As he pondered that, I explained that "silencers" should correctly be called "suppressors." They don't "silence" anything, any more than the mufflers on your car make the car totally noiseless. I told him that a gun with a suppressor mounted will probably still require its operator to wear hearing protection, in most cases.

As he pondered that, I explained that in some European countries hunting with a suppressor mounted is mandatory.

As he pondered that, I explained to him why suppressors do not work when affixed to a revolver.

As he pondered that, I told him he has been watching too many movies...

My son is 45. He has gone his entire life thinking that suppressors render a gun silent and that only assassins' use them.

Finally, with no retort left to fall back to, he said:

"Dad, my Tesla doesn't need a muffler..."

You win some and you lose some., but I think I gave him some food for thought.

 

[GEM]

Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Tom Swift electric rifle
Coming soon to your LGS

If you want to dig around on Prime, there is a show Cheese Slices - where the host goes to different countries to show their different cheeses. He goes to a farm in England where they make big farmhouse cheeses. However, if one goes bad, they take it out in the field and shoot it with some very nice Winchester bolt guns, high end scope and suppressor so as to not disturb the neighbors and live stock.

 

[Kookla]

"Dad, my Tesla doesn't need a muffler..."

Regardless of everything, that is a pretty funny answer

 

[AlexanderA]

I'm convinced that part of the attraction is the lure of "forbidden fruit." We want something simply because someone says we can't have it. Hopefully this justification goes away soon, and then we'll see what the real appeal of silencers is.

 

[Smokin Gator]

I've never had one. For starters I just think it might be fun on a Ruger 22/45.

 

[General Geoff]

As he pondered that, I explained that "silencers" should correctly be called "suppressors." They don't "silence" anything, any more than the mufflers on your car make the car totally noiseless. I told him that a gun with a suppressor mounted will probably still require its operator to wear hearing protection, in most cases.

But silencer sounds cooler! Car mufflers used to be commonly called silencers too

 

[The Night Rider]

Because these are a pain in the ass

 

[General Geoff]

I'm convinced that part of the attraction is the lure of "forbidden fruit." We want something simply because someone says we can't have it. Hopefully this justification goes away soon, and then we'll see what the real appeal of silencers is.

You're not wrong, and in an alternate reality where the NFA never regulated silencers, we'd have folks shooting their guns at ranges intentionally unsilenced just to make more noise, not unlike hooligans pulling the mufflers from their cars to make them louder for fun

I think the inevitability is that if they are removed from NFA, it won't be 5 years before a whole new generation of designer silencers is on the market to specifically tune your gun for the most badass, macho but still hearing-bearable muzzle report.

 

[TomJ]

View attachment 1270940
Because these are a pain in the ass

This. I have moderate hearing loss due to shooting, and wear hearing aids much of the time.

 

[TitanicTortilini]

I think the inevitability is that if they are removed from NFA, it won't be 5 years before a whole new generation of designer silencers is on the market to specifically tune your gun for the most badass, macho but still hearing-bearable muzzle report.

They'd just keep selling the same ones. There's no such thing as a suppressor that's hearing safe for a whole slew of rifle calibers right now, let alone needing any further development. I know some folks will claim they are, but I think a lot of those people are just in denial about already having pretty serious hearing loss. (I read one review where the guy claimed it was 'hearing safe' because the ringing in his ears only lasted a couple of minutes. Not an informed opinion.)

 

[Walkalong]

my Tesla doesn't need a muffler..."

lol, love it.

 

[Miami_JBT]

I'm convinced that part of the attraction is the lure of "forbidden fruit." We want something simply because someone says we can't have it. Hopefully this justification goes away soon, and then we'll see what the real appeal of silencers is.

I want to suppress everything because hearing "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" sucks.

 

[Walkalong]

I'm convinced that part of the attraction is the lure of "forbidden fruit."

I am willing to bet for as many that buy one for that reason, at least one other doesn't because of the tax and the trouble, although it's been easy recently. I have always wanted one, just didn't want to go through the trouble. Turns out it's not much trouble at all, even if waits were still long, which they are not.

 

[LoonWulf]

"Dad, my Tesla doesn't need a muffler..."

"And when you give me a lazer rifle for fathers day i wont need one either....."

 

[mljdeckard]

I think there's something to the "forbidden fruit" thing. It's cool to own a sneaky toy.

I have heretofore avoided getting into the NFA game, although I have plenty of friends who run them. The stingy part of my dad comes out, the cost, the tax stamp, etc. But I also didn't want to be attached to The Man with paperwork. But once I was with my brother doing recon for deer season, and we were in the woods, and these squirrels would yap at us non-stop, and we reflected how good it would be to be able to zap a few of them without scaring every deer within a mile. I thought for THAT it might be worth it.

But if the BBB goes through I will probably get over it and get one or two. One for rimfire, an omega for handguns, a heavy one for rifles. I will need to do a lot of homework.

I'll mostly be giggling, hearing all of those ridiculous arm braces hitting the trash cans.

 

[Miami_JBT]

I am willing to bet for as many that buy one for that reason, at least one other doesn't because of the tax and the trouble, although it's been easy recently. I have always wanted one, just didn't want to go through the trouble. Turns out it's not much trouble at all, even if waits were still long, which they are not.

I got into NFA before it was "easy." And many people never simply purchased, event today, because of still how much of a pain in the but it is. That, and people don't want to be on Uncle Sam's registry.

If this gets passed and signed into law. The floodgates will open and a TON OF PEOPLE will go full-bore. Which will be good, because common usage as created by Caetano v. Massachusetts will further cement suppressors and SBRs/SBSs as common use.

 

[Miami_JBT]

I think there's something to the "forbidden fruit" thing. It's cool to own a sneaky toy.

I have heretofore avoided getting into the NFA game, although I have plenty of friends who run them. The stingy part of my dad comes out, the cost, the tax stamp, etc. But I also didn't want to be attached to The Man with paperwork. But once I was with my brother doing recon for deer season, and we were in the woods, and these squirrels would yap at us non-stop, and we reflected how good it would be to be able to zap a few of them without scaring every deer within a mile. I thought for THAT it might be worth it.

But if the BBB goes through I will probably get over it and get one or two. One for rimfire, an omega for handguns, a heavy one for rifles. I will need to do a lot of homework.

I'll mostly be giggling, hearing all of those ridiculous arm braces hitting the trash cans.

Suppressors are only super expensive because of the artificially created market caused by the NFA. If the NFA never existed, cans would be semi-disposable items being sold on the cheap.

 

[General Geoff]

They'd just keep selling the same ones. There's no such thing as a suppressor that's hearing safe for a whole slew of rifle calibers right now, let alone needing any further development.

You underestimate the power of vanity. People spend thousands of dollars on exotic exhaust systems expressly to make their cars sound cool, despite (and sometimes specifically for) making the car not hearing-safe to be behind.

In the same way that there are a ton of various types of flash hiders and muzzle brakes, once silencers are deregulated and any joe can "build" a basic one with a plumbing fitting and a $5 oil filter, the high end silencer market will shift toward designer muzzle reports as the demand for expensive "maximum quiet above all else" cans cools down.

 

[orionengnr]

Why would I want one?
Why wouldn't I?

Ever hear of "all lawful purposes?" There used to be a question on the Texas CHL application when I first applied.
The question was something to the effect of "Why do you wish to carry a concealed handgun?"
The standard answer was as stated above. That answer was acceptable the the state of Texas.
Good enough for them, good enough for me.

 

[.38 Special]

View attachment 1270940
Because these are a pain in the ass

That's not technically where they go.

 

[Ignition Override]

tark:
Ask him, if you ever feel inspired, how much more fossil fuel consumption would now be needed to provide electrical power if we suddenly had millions of extra electric cars in the US.

 

[tark]

Because these are a pain in the ass

Yes they ARE! I have the exact same hearing aids. I only wear them at work. I can't stand anything stuffed in my ears. For that reason I always wear muffs when shooting.

 

[tark]

tark:
Ask him, if you ever feel inspired, how much more fossil fuel consumption would now be needed to provide electrical power if we suddenly had millions of extra electric cars in the US.

I think I have him convinced that ECs are really not the answer.

He just loves the thing because it does 0-60 in around two seconds. (He has a plaid.)

 

[The Night Rider]

Yes they ARE! I have the exact same hearing aids. I only wear them at work. I can't stand anything stuffed in my ears. For that reason I always wear muffs when shooting.

I never really talk about this here because it's kind of off topic and we never talk about music but you're looking at a photograph of the best sound system I've ever owned.

when I first got my hearing aids one of the first things I did was sit down and listen to Dark Side of the Moon. My hearing aids gave me better sound than any Bose speaker I ever heard. In theory Dark Side of the Moon is actually supposed to only be two songs. It's supposed to be a continuous track on each side of the album.

When I listen to it on my hearing aids I can hear the beat between each track. The conversations that people are having between the tracks I can hear every word they're saying perfectly. The first time I heard that album through my hearing aids was like the first time I ever heard that album

 

[Boattale]

My favorite dumb reason for wanting one is to piss off anti 2A people.