Silencers/Suppresors

You never know when you’re going to need to quietly fire off some rounds from your pistol or rifle. Maybe you’re stealthily firing down some long-range sniper shots and don’t want to give away your position. Maybe you forgot your ear protection and you’d rather not have permanent hearing damage. Whatever the case may be, there are products available to help with these types of situations. Commonly referred to as “silencers”, these are accessories that attach to the end of your firearm and dampen the noise as well as limit the muzzle flash produced from discharging your weapon. These can also be referred to as “suppressors” which is the more technical term and doesn’t sound quite as cool as “silencer”. When the suppressor was initially invented, it was sold for just a few dollars and you could buy them at hardware stores. We’ve come a long way since then.

At this point in the USA, suppressors are legal in most states but they do require some special efforts in order to obtain them. Once you’ve determined that suppressors are legal in your state, you’ll need to find an authorized dealer. The authorized dealer will have you fill out a form, attach two of your passport photos to the back of it, submit two sets of fingerprints and then go to your local sheriffs office and have a background check run and (if you pass) the sheriff will sign off on your card. I forgot to mention that to even start this process you must be over 21 and also have never been convicted of a felony. So after you’ve got the signature of the sheriff, you can go back to the authorized dealer with your completed forms and submit all of that as well as a $200 federal tax fee to be sent in for approval. Then once the authorized forms are approved at the federal level, they’ll send copies back to the authorized dealer who will then call you up and let you know that you may now come and purchase your suppressor.

I guess my point here is, if you’re interested in suppressing the sound and muzzle flash on your firearm, you’d better get the process started sooner rather than later. With all of the forms and waiting around you wouldn’t want to end up trying to overnight ship your forms in for authorization once the zombies are already running down the streets of your town. So remember, suppressors keep your firearms quiet and hard to see, but you’ll need to fill out that form in triplicate before you can legally attach one to them.