SilencerCo
Included in the ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill passed in the U.S. House Wednesday night is a provision to remove the comprehensive federal regulation of suppressors (also called silencers) under the National Firearms Act (NFA). These dangerous accessories have been heavily regulated for almost 100 years because of the obvious risk they pose to public safety.
Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement: “It is outrageous that the Trump administration and its allies in the House have advanced a bill that simultaneously puts countless lives at risk and gives a ‘big, beautiful’ gift to gun industry executives and any mass shooter or assassin who intends to take lives. We do not need to speculate about how dangerous this will be: In 2019, a shooter armed with a silencer killed 12 people in Virginia Beach, and most of the victims were unaware that a mass shooting was even taking place. Americans will die if this becomes law, hard stop.
“This provision would allow anyone to buy or even 3D print a silencer without registration or even a simple background check. This flies in the face of almost 100 years of sensible regulation of silencers that has saved lives. If House leaders want to legislate actual changes to gun policies, they should hold public hearings on bills and not sneak devious provisions into a massive tax giveaway in the dark of night. Brady fiercely condemns the House bill and urges the Senate to reject any effort to put gun industry profits above American lives.”
Gunmakers have pushed for this change over the past several years, emphasizing suppressors as a promising new profit center. The National Firearms Act, enacted in 1934, has been an unmitigated success in preventing the criminal misuse of legally-produced suppressors. However, crimes committed with illegally-made silencers are already on the rise: ATF recovered and traced more than 400 silencers from violent crime scenes in 2023 alone. Silencers enable criminals to elude law enforcement and raise the risk of ambush attacks in which a shooter may escape before someone can even call the police.
The U.S. Senate will take up the tax bill in the coming days.
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- Polis Signs Last Five Gun Bills of Record-Breaking Session
- Boulder Suspect Tried to Buy Gun, Was Stopped by NICS. And oh, yeah, Trump May End NICS.
- Supremes Decline to Hear More Gun Cases, for Now
- A Farewell (for now) Note from Adam Shore
