Free Republic

>Courtesy Open Source DefenseExponential curves like the one above don’t just stop. The consumer demand (for suppressors) is there, and it’s accelerating. And that’s happening just as NFA wait times are coming down. From the NSSF:Updated times announced today by ATF show the average wait time on a paper NFA Form 4 — the most popular NFA form submitted — dropped to an average of 245 days for processing, while average daily processing times for electronic eForm 4’s dropped to 53 days. Previously, wait times on Form 4’s were near 280 days for paper form processing and between 90 and...

On February 15, 2024, a plea agreement was reached in the silencer case in the Western District of Louisiana. In the case, Brennan James Comeaux had been charged with possession of five homemade silencers, two silver-colored and three black-colored. A warrant had been issued to search Comeax’s home to find the silencers, based on probable cause. A motion to dismiss had been filed in the case, contending the portions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and later statutes violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution based on the guidance of the Bruen decision published by the Supreme Court on June...

Brandon Maddox and Silencer Central is an American success story. Brandon went from a Federal Firearms License (FFL) in his home to the largest silencer dealer in the USA. Today, Brandon’s companies dominate the silencer/suppressor market, regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA). This correspondent met Brandon Maddox at the 2024 SHOT Show. Brandon had read several AmmoLand articles, recognized this writer, and started a conversation. Brandon graciously agreed to be interviewed. This is the first in a series of articles resulting from several interviews.Brandon was born in Alabama. His father spent a tour in the Army after a Reserve...

On September 7, 2023, Brennan Comeaux was arrested for possessing unregistered silencers without serial numbers. He was appointed a federal defender in Louisiana in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Louisiana is in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.On December 20, 2023, a motion to dismiss was filed by Comeaux’s attorney. From the Motion to Dismiss:By indictment, the government accuses Brennan Comeaux of possessing unregistered firearms in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) (Count One) and receiving and possessing firearms unidentified by serial number in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(i). ECF 1. Specifically, the...

A close friend told me of a high school field trip he went on in 1975. The trip was to a slaughterhouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There, he encountered a Maxim Silencer attached to a .22 single-shot pistol. The Maxim and pistol were displayed on the wall. The display said the silenced pistol had been used to slaughter over two million cattle before it was retired, presumably when a captive bolt system was substituted. Research revealed Sioux Falls was close to where my friend went to school. It has a huge slaughterhouse industry, started in 1909. The number of...

In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, on November 25, 2022, Larry Morse and Theodore Ray Buck, Jr. filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, claiming the state ban on the sale and possession of silencers violates the Second Amendment. A similar lawsuit was filed by Carlin Anderson and David Clark on February 27, 2023, backed by the American Suppressor Association. The two lawsuits, Morse v Raoul and Anderson v Raoul, have been consolidated as of June 15, 2023. The parties involved have agreed the principle area of contention is whether silencers are arms...

On July 18, Judge Mark T. Pittman of the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, ruled the plaintiffs in the case of Ken Paxton v. Gary M. Restaino (Previously Dettleback, the case name changes with the name of the head of the ATF) have no standing to pursue the lawsuit, because they have not suffered concrete harm. The case is dismissed without prejudice, which means it can be refiled with new evidence. The case is the result of the passage of Texas bill HB 957. The bill required the Attorney General of Texas to file a lawsuit challenging the...

The number of legal suppressors or silencers in the United States shows they are in common use for lawful purposes. As of January of 2023, the ATF shows there were over 3.1 million silencers or suppressors legally owned in the United States for lawful purposes. In January of 2020, there were 1.8 million. Over the last three years, the number of legal suppressors has increased by an average of 450,000 suppressors per year. By the end of 2023, it is reasonably expected there will be over 3.6 million suppressors in the United States of America. To own these suppressors, the...

On January 18, 2023, at the SHOT Show, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) hosted a slide show on what has been happening in the National Firearms Act Division of the ATF. This presentation did not explain the ramifications of the controversial “new rule” on stabilizing pistol braces. It was an overview of the internal happenings in the NFA division of the ATF.This correspondent has seen many such presentations in other organizations in his career. There is useful information to be gained. Do not expect bureaucracies to air their “dirty laundry” in public. Each agency and each...

If you have ever thought you might want, need or find useful a suppressed firearm, there is good news. .22 rifles with threaded barrels are available for very little money.There are several reasons why you might consider buying inexpensive .22 rifles with threaded barrels:Affordability: .22 rifles are generally less expensive than other types of firearms, and a threaded barrel can add versatility without significantly increasing the cost.Versatility: A threaded barrel allows for the attachment of various accessories such as suppressors, compensators, and muzzle brakes.Recoil: .22 caliber firearms have less recoil than larger caliber firearms, making it ideal for beginners and...

On July 15, 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton amended the complaint filed in federal court against the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, in the Texas lawsuit against the ATF. The complaint challenges the constitutionality of the NFA and the Gun Control Act of 1968 to regulate privately made silencers/suppressors/gun mufflers made and kept in Texas. The amendment incorporates the Second Amendment decision by the Court in Bruen, which establishes a refined and clarified procedure for courts to use in Second Amendment cases.The Texas case came into existence as part of the requirements of HB 957, which became law in Texas...

From some time in 2019 to the present, the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, has been running an Operation Silent Night to intercept items coming from China that can be used to make suppressors/silencers. The operation has seized a lot of material, with relatively few arrests. The items seized are routinely marketed as solvent traps, fuel filters, or pill containers. As most of them do not have holes so that a bullet can travel through them, it is difficult to prosecute people for importing a “silencer” or even “silencer parts” when similar items...

On June 1, 2022, S. 281 was signed by Republican Governor Phil Scott of Vermont. An amendment removing the ban on the use of suppressors for hunting in Vermont was passed as part of the bill, which regulated the hunting of coyotes with dogs. The bill passed the Vermont House on May 4, 2022. The vote was 89 for, 49 against. At that time, the bill only contained the regulation of coyote hunting with dogs. The final legislation was a compromise on hunting regulation of coyotes and the use of suppressors for hunting.The amendment to remove the ban on hunting...

In Arizona, Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced a bill, AZ SB 1037, to remove silencers, suppressors, “gun mufflers” from the list of prohibited weapons in Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3101. Here is the basic change: 8. “Prohibited weapon”:(a) Includes the following:(i) An item that is a bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces or mine and that is explosive, incendiary or poison gas.(ii) A device that is designed, made or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm.(iii) (ii) A firearm that is capable of shooting more than one shot automatically, without manual reloading, by a...

On February 24, 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit against Marvin Richardson, acting head of the ATF, challenging the power of the federal government to regulate personally made silencers used for home defense in Texas, which remain in Texas. The lawsuit follows the predictions made in a previous article on the subject by this correspondent. Here is the press release from Attorney General Paxton: From texasattorneygeneral.gov:Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives seeking to stop the enforcement of federal regulations regarding firearm suppressors made in Texas. Texas House...

The Democrat Governor of Guam, Lourdes (Lou) Aflague Leon Guerrero, vetoed legislative bill 73-36, the “Hearing Protection Act” on December 22, 2021. The bill had passed the Senate by a narrow margin on December 15. With only 13 Senators present, the bill passed on a 7 to 6 bipartisan vote. From the americansuppresorassociation.com:Of the 15 member legislature, 13 lawmakers were present for the vote. With Vice Speaker Barnes and Sen. Terlaje absent and excused, only 7 votes were needed for passage. That threshold was met when Senators Tony Ada, Frank Blas Jr., Christopher M. Dueñas, James Moylan, Clynton Ridgell, Telo...

HB 957, the new silencer/gun muffler/suppressor law, will become effective in Texas on 1 September 2021. On that date, the Attorney General, Ken Paxton, will be able to accept written notification by a United States citizen who intends to make a firearms suppressor as per Section 2.052 of the new law. The Attorney General shall then seek a declaratory judgment from a federal district court. There is strong Supreme Court precedent the federal government may not command a state to enforce federal law, known as the anti-commandeering doctrine.HB 957 goes far beyond anti-commandeering. It sets up a test case to...

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Texas recently passed HB 957 into law. It will become effective on 1 September, 2021. The law repeals the Texas state ban on the possession of silencers/suppressors/gun mufflers, puts into effect a “no commandeering clause” for federal enforcement of the National Firearms Act (NFA) for silencers, and sets up a federal test case of the NFA in federal court.In a previous article, the repeal of the Texas law and the anti-commandeering section were discussed. The likely federal test case was not.HB 957 came from the brain of Representative Oliverson of Texas District 130, north of Houston. Dr. Oliverson...

On 15 June, 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed Texas HB 957 into law. The new law removes the Texas prohibition on firearm suppressors, commonly known as silencers or gun mufflers. From the bill: “Firearm suppressor” means any device designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm.From the legislative history, it appears silencers, suppressors or gun mufflers were first banned in Texas in 1973. Although they were banned in Texas law, there was an affirmative defense from prosecution if the gun mufflers were legally possessed under federal law, as shown in this AmmoLand article from 2014.As you can...

In Maine, the Governor signed suppressor, (gun muffler, silencer) reform into law. The change in law took effect on 8 June, 2021. It is now part of Chapter 112, Public Law. When the Maine legislature reformed Maine’s ban on hunting with suppressors, the law required a hunter to obtain a special permit to hunt with suppressors. It was an added bureaucratic burden which did not good. It increased useless paperwork and wasted everyone involved’s time.Here is how the old law read. From mainlegislature.org:2. Permit. In accordance with this subsection, the commissioner may issue a permit to a person allowing that...