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Posted on 08/11/2021 7:19:22 AM PDT by marktwain
The same person who invented the muffler for the automobile invented them for guns. Hiram Maxim, the inventor, called them “Silencers”. An obvious reason they were not invented earlier is the inside of a gun muffler is more complex than a gun barrel. Early silencer designs were made of mild steel, making them subject to corrosion. A silencer for a gun using black powder would require a significant effort to clean after each use.
Smokeless/non-corrosive gunpowder did not become common until about 1900. At that point, gun mufflers became more practical. Increasing prosperity in society, brought about by technical innovation and the use of fossil fuels, made target shooting more economical for more people.
Hiram Maxim invented the gun muffler in 1902. It was moderately popular. President Theodore Roosevelt owned several and found them useful for target shooting and pest control.
The Progressive regime of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was able to make the interstate transportation and marketing of silencers prohibitively expensive in 1934. There was no clear reason to do so in the legislative record. Placing prohibitive taxes on machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was the booby prize in 1934. The main aim of the proponents of the law had been to require registration and licensing of all pistols.
How states banned silencers is less clear. There was no upwelling of public sentiment to ban silencers. It appears there was a top-down push, perhaps to protect the federal law from challenges. Texas passed its ban on silencers in 1973. Iowa banned silencers in 1983. Wisconsin law banning silencers was hidden in a budget bill in 1991.
There has been pushback. Some states which banned silencers have allowed possession under federal
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
The opportunity exists to repeal the state gun muffler ban in several of them, as happened in Texas.
“Gun Mufflers” LOL. I’ve honestly never heard that term before. I’m using it now..
Hiram Maxim invented the Maxim gun.
This Ping List is for all things pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
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Dean,
I just want to say that you’re the only gun blog writer that posts here who manages to do it well.
Thanks for that.
L
How long before Thrush makes a “gun muffler” that doesn’t really make it any quieter - in fact may make it louder - but makes it sound much cooler? :-)
...if I recall all of the related articles in the many gun magazines I read, the more common term for these items is “suppressor,” not silencer....but, again, there is quite a bit of latitude here..... this is from another web site...
“Some say a silencer is for reducing the sound, while a suppressor is more for eliminating muzzle flash. A suppressor does reduce some of the sound though. ... The simple answer is both words can be used interchangeably - meaning the terms Silencer and Suppressor refer to the exact same thing.”
....ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.....
What? The entire impetuous behind the GCA of 1934 was the "Bonnie and Clyde" style of crime occurring during the Great Depression.
At least the legislature in 1934 understood what "Shall Not Be Infringed" meant, and didn't attempt to ban machine guns, silencers, short barreled rifles, and short barreled shotguns, but instead they just effectively taxed them out of civilian hands with an outrageous $200 tax.
We're now at a point where that $200 tax is not as onerous, but legislatures no longer have any qualms about passing outright bans.
The term "Firearm Muffler" is literally in the law.
(24)The terms “firearm silencer” and “firearm muffler” mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.
Tickey tack.
I do not care what they are called. I would just like them to be legal.
You want to hunt and not scare folks with the noise.
I would care to shoot in my yard which is legal and not scare them.
I don’t care what we call them as long as it is easy to remember, easy to pronounce, and easy to spell. ;-)
Fantastic video by the older Botkin, of TRex Arms, about this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWcGwPJQfc&feature=emb_title
I own a few. They’re a joy to shoot a rifle with. Absolute joy. Makes the shooting day so much more enjoyable.
Two things:
- In gun control crazy Europe they’re not regulated like they are here. And in some counties they’re pretty much mandatory for hunting.
- In the good ol’ USA…..
You fill out Form 4. Pretty much identical to Form 4473. Choose between a Trust or going to the Sheriff. Fingerprints. Picture. $200. All of that goes to West Virginia. The ladies up there review it all and at some point you get your stamp. The check is exactly the same as the one they do to purchase a firearm.
Every single bit of that could be done at the gun store. And you walk right out the door, the same amount of time it takes to buy a gun.
It doesn’t take much of an argument to win a debate on fans or SBRs. Someone might be able to debate over full auto, but it’s relatively easy to own them as well. Just paperwork and some fees.
In the good ol' US of A, the Form 4 is an ATF form, and it goes to the ATF for a background check of the potential purchaser (you), and the current turnaround time to receive your tax stamp from the Feds is around 9 months.
Your state of West Virginia may also have their own checks, I don't know, but I guarantee that the FBI also does a background check similar to a NICS check, but one that takes forever to complete.
The office that does the checks and issues the stamps is in West Virginia. Used to be in Atlanta, under Bush 2 and was staffed with quite a few folks. The waits weren’t too long, 3-4 months. Still too long, but better than what is happening now.
When the guy before President Trump took office, they moved to WV and cut the staff by a lot. Thus being the biggest reason for the long wait. They don’t have the manpower to process all the paperwork.
The NICS check is the same as when you buy a gun
It’s the sheer volume of paperwork the very understaffed office has to deal with.
It isn’t just suppressors.
And believe it or not, even law enforcement agencies go through the same process, minus the $200, although for them it’s a tad more streamlined, but not much.
And more and more agencies are using cans; which is good.
Here is a paper on the subject.
There was considerable discussion on the use of machineguns, pistols,and sawed off shotguns by criminals. Not silencers.
You currently have to pass a federal background check and fork over $200 for each one.
You can get them from China for less than $10 if customers doesn’t seize it.
This series of articles on AmmoLand discusses the legalisms and processes, under the theme of 80% silencers.
Hiram Maxim invented the Maxim gun.
...and instead of every American front porch having one in a prominent place, the US Congress chose to essentially ban them beginning with 1934 NFA and completing the ban with the 1986 gun law in violation of “shall not be infringed”.
The supremacy clause of the Constitution was immediately relevant the moment those bills were signed into law, and they should have been rendered null and void by any State so desiring.
Someone might be able to debate over full auto, but it’s relatively easy to own them as well. Just paperwork and some fees.
Ammunition wasters they are, but when they are needed they are needed.
In every sense of the word, they are a banned weapon, but not in the sense of the US Constitution as written and with an operable Bill of Rights.
When the going got tough, the US Congress caved. beginning in 1934, continuing in 1968 and completing the deal in 1986. The first outright weapons ban under US law.
Today, prohibitively expensive, only available to military and police agencies, in violation of the Constitution, and done in by the law of antiquities or perhaps better said the law of obsolescence, age, and the gun violence mantra of the left. Also in violation of “an armed society...”
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