For Wyoming hunters and target shooters, firearms suppressors — sometimes inaccurately called “silencers” — might soon be available over-the-counter.
As it stands now, suppressors are included under restricted items the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). That means that getting one amounts to what some shooters describe as a bureaucratic nightmare.
Getting NFA-restricted items, which also include such weapons as Thompson submachine guns, involves a lengthy application and vetting process. It also requires paying a $200 tax stamp.
That means it can take weeks or even months to buy a suppressor.
However, the U.S. House late Wednesday passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes a measure removing suppressors from NFA classification.
Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America said that’s good news in the wake of the measure being jammed up last week in the House Ways and Means Committee.
“I think chances are good that it will pass the Senate” and be signed into law by President Donald Trump, Jones told Cowboy State Daily.
For Hearing Protection, Not Mob Hits
The 1934 NFA was passed in response to gangsters of that time using such weapons as Browning Automatic Rifles and sawed-off shotguns, and suppressors were lumped in.
Movies and television shows often depict suppressors acting as “silencers,” reducing gunshots to muted “pews” and being used by characters such as mob hitmen to take out rivals.
In reality, suppressors reduce gunshots to milder cracks, meaning they can still be heard from a distance. But suppressed gunshots don’t wallop a shooters’ ears, particularly when using high-powered rifles.
That’s why hunters and target shooters like them, because they help prevent hearing loss and make shooting more pleasant.
Might Be Like Buying A Gun
If suppressors are removed from the NFA classification, they will remain under the federal Gun Control Act, Jones said.
That means they will be regulated like any non-NFA firearms. So, people can go into sporting goods stores and buy new suppressors over-the-counter from licensed firearms dealers.
They would still have to fill out paperwork for a background check, just as they would when buying a firearm from the store, Jones said.
The process usually takes less than an hour.
Sales of used suppressors between private parties in Wyoming, like private party gun sales here, would not require background checks.
Wyoming statute doesn’t have any specific classification for suppressors, so the transformation to over-the-counter sales here would probably be “seamless,” Jones said.
In other states, which might classify them under statutory restrictions, reconciling state statutes with a lifting of federal NFA restrictions could be more complicated, he said.
Jones added that in the future, suppressors might be removed from Gun Control Act classification, so getting a suppressor from a store would be like “buying a rifle scope” with no background check required.
A measure to also remove short-barreled rifles and shotguns from NFA restrictions was not included in the U.S. House bill.
However, there’s still a chance a similar measure could come through the U.S. Senate, Jones said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
