ASA Announces Hearing Protection Act - Removal of Silencers from NFA

This bill doesn't have the fervor and controversy behind it that the AWB did, and we still managed to defeat that. This is a bill where more pro-gun people are against it than anti-gun people seem to be rabidly against it. I see no reason it doesn't have at least a shot at passing. Will it be vetoed? That's a possibility. Should have passed it the same way the Hughes Amendment was passed - slip it into a very large bill during the final hour when most people aren't even present to vote.

In the meantime, we should start by contacting our representatives.
 
I believe a very good case can be made for removing silencers from the NFA list, including the fact that in much of the rest of the world, silencers are not illegal. In much of Europe, if you can own a gun, you can own a silencer for it and the use of silencers is even required for shooting in some areas, for much the same reason that your motorcycle is required to have a muffler.
 
Maybe one thing we can do to further our cause is quit calling them silencers. Because they're not. More accurately, they're suppressors. They reduce the noise level 'down a couple calibers'. They will reduce a sub-sonic 22 to the level of an air gun.

The difficult part is going to be educating the agenda driven media the reality of noise reduction. And you know, they're not going to accept it. Because once they get ahold of this, they'll spread more lies, fearmongering the public into believing gun owners will go around James Bond-like, shooting people without leaving a trace.

And even though it may pass through congress, do you really think Obama will sign it? And do you think there will be enough support to override a veto?

I'm not trying to be cynical, just realistic. I'm all for taking suppressors off the NFA list. My ears have been ringing long enough and I'd take some pleasure in ridding my yard of varmints that eat as much out of our vegetable garden that we do.
 
Validity is in the mind of the beholder.

I will repeat that this bill will not pass in a Democratic presidency. You may recall that both Bush and Romney favored the AWB and would sign it.

Each season, folks introduce pro or antigun bills that go nowhere.

So, of course, we should vote. However, living in a nonrealistic world view is not productive. That's not being defeatist. On the Internet one can trumpet all kinds of things. It is more likely that some tragedy will cause a stampede for a new AWB or draconian UBC/psychiatric gulag system than getting this bill passed and signed.
 
dakota.potts said:
This bill doesn't have the fervor and controversy behind it that the AWB did, and we still managed to defeat that.
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I'd argue that (a) the fervor and controversy is inevitably coming once this bill proceed farther, it simply hasn't gotten there yet; and (b) the AWB was an anti-gun measure with a built-in self-destruct mechanism, which is a very different matter from an actively pro-gun bill. Not many of the latter have passed since the 1986 FOPA.

As an aside, I've suggested in the past that a pragmatic approach would be to deregulate .30-caliber and smaller suppressors first.
 
Maybe one thing we can do to further our cause is quit calling them silencers. Because they're not. More accurately, they're suppressors. They reduce the noise level 'down a couple calibers'. They will reduce a sub-sonic 22 to the level of an air gun.
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Agreed. Better-yet, let's call them mufflers. That's what they are, and muffler is a very benign non-threatening word that soccer moms can understand. It quiets the tool, which is a good thing.
 
As an aside, I've suggested in the past that a pragmatic approach would be to deregulate .30-caliber and smaller suppressors first.
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I'd go with 22 caliber myself. It would be difficult to enforce a rimfire only suppressor distinction, but 22 caliber might work. 22lr is something many people are very comfortable with, just like a 12ga break barrel gun. Bring it to that platform first, let people get accustomed to seeing them at every range all the time, and then try to expand.

Of course, I support the same approach to machine guns and no one seems to agree with me there. How much more fun would the GSG products be in full auto?
 
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