Posted on 06/18/2016 3:28:25 PM PDT by marktwain
Silencers in New Zealand are Cheap and Unregulated
Western Criminology Review 8(2), 44–57 (2007)
Criminal Use of Firearm Silencers*
Paul A. Clark
Alaska Public Defender Agency
Paul A. Clark has done some long needed research on the illegal and legal uses of silencers, and the theory for criminalizing their possession in the United States. The paper was published in 2007. It is 57 pages long, with the last three pages consisting of end notes and references.
The research was prompted in part by the draconian mandatory sentencing for possession of a silencer during a crime. The crime of unregistered silencer possession warrants a minimum sentence of 27 months in prison. If a silencer is possessed during a drug transaction, the mandatory sentence is 30 years; if the silencer was unlicensed, another 10 years can be added.
The paper is easy to read, although it is in a dry, academic, just the facts, style. The dry style cannot erase the numerous examples of legislative horrors that the author casually mentions. A hunter who made a silencer to shoot pests without annoying the neighbors – over two years in prison. An otherwise minor drug case – 40 years in prison.
Clark covers various approaches to the regulation of silencers across jurisdictions. In Sweden, there were no restrictions; in Texas, heavy restrictions and penalties. The data is slightly dated. Most Texas restrictions were removed in 2014, although the draconian federal penalties still apply.
The examination of the legislative history behind the United States extreme regulatory scheme is revealing as to purposes. There were none. From Criminal use of Firearm Silencers(pdf):
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
The United States has some of the most draconian penalties for silencer possession in the world. There is no legislative history to suggest why, except a case in the 1980's that did not involve silencers.
When it comes to silencers....
.....Shhhhhhhhh.
What?
I believe that in Finland or maybe Norway use of a suppressor is a legal REQUIREMENT..?
Very enlightened.
Big Government Insanity.
Noise suppressors should be required in the USA.
It will save the hearing of countless hunters and shooters.
It does not spook the neighbors and marksmanship improves because the shooter is less likely to flinch.
I built an outdoor range on my property and I am certain that some of my neighbors would appreciate it if I used silencers.
Hiram Maxim invented the firearm muffler patented in 1908. He called it a firearm silencer. He also invented the car muffler.
Hollywood invented silencers.
In the real world noise suppressors are used by the rest of the world.
New Zealanders can also legally distill their own alcohol, so they’ve got that going for them too.
New Zealand politics is schizoid, AFAIK.
Half libertarian, half rabid socialism.
Policies tend to bounce from one to the other, but as the bureaucracy persists, and tends toward socialism, so does the country.
They used to be requirements here, in urban areas.
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