If you’ve been online lately—or dared to peek at mainstream media—you’ve probably seen a wave of fearmongering over firearm suppressors (a.k.a. “silencers”) thanks to the anti-gun lobby’s latest boogeyman: Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which zeroes out the outdated $200 tax stamp on suppressors while keeping all other regulations in place.
But let’s set the record straight. The media spin? Wild. The facts? Simple.
What Did the Bill Actually Do?
Let’s start here:
The bill didn’t “deregulate” suppressors. It didn’t make them easier to get. It didn’t remove the background checks. And it certainly didn’t let “just anyone” walk into a store and grab one like a candy bar.
All it did was remove the $200 tax. That’s it.
You still have to:
- Submit a federal NFA application
- Go through two background checks
- Wait on ATF approval
- Register your suppressor with the government
- Comply with all state laws (many still ban or heavily regulate suppressors)
Why the Meltdown?
Anti-gun groups like Brady United and politicians like Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Mark Kelly are flipping out over this change. Why? Because they rely on emotion and misinformation to push their agenda.
Take the op-ed in The Hill by a Dartmouth student, Sally Young, who failed to disclose her role as a communications intern at Brady United. She claimed that suppressors “muffle gunfire to the point that lives are lost,” and that removing the tax “turns silencers into impulse buys.”
False on both counts.
Cam Edwards from Bearing Arms tore the argument apart. His analysis shows the real threat isn’t suppressors—it’s bad policy, willful ignorance, and a media echo chamber that treats facts like an inconvenience.
The Truth About Suppressors
Let’s be real:
Suppressors are not what Hollywood tells you they are. They don’t make guns silent. They don’t turn people into undetectable assassins. What they do is lower the decibel level of gunshots—from around 165 dB (jet engine loud) down to about 130 dB (still loud, like a jackhammer). It’s about protecting hearing—not hiding crime.
Even ShotSpotter (the controversial gunshot detection tech) admits its system can still pick up suppressed gunfire. That kills the claim that criminals will now go undetected. In fact, criminals rarely use suppressors anyway. A 10-year study showed only 15 crimes nationwide involved suppressors being used in any meaningful way. That’s 0.00006% of crimes in California. Not exactly an epidemic.
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Rugged Front Cap, For Rugged Suppressors, 5.56 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 68.99 $ 61.89 |
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Rugged Suppressors Flash Hider Front Cap, 5.56 All Rugged Rifle Suppressors - FC007 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 86.99 $ 77.99 |
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Rugged Razor 556 5.56 Nato Rifle Silencer / Suppressor - Black | Bereli | $ 550.00 |
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Rugged Suppressors Flash Hider Front Cap, 5.56 All Rugged Rifle Suppressors - FC007 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 91.99 $ 70.99 |
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Suppressor Ownership Is Up—Crime Is Not
According to NSSF data:
- 4.5 million suppressors are now registered in the U.S.
- Ownership surged 265% between 2020–2024
- Most common uses? Recreational shooting, hunting, and home defense
- Despite this surge, crimes involving suppressors remain exceedingly rare.
Even the ATF’s former acting director admitted in a 2017 white paper that suppressors should be regulated like regular firearms, not heavily restricted under the NFA. The goal of the original 1934 tax was never safety—it was to price working-class Americans out of owning one.
So Why the Lies?
Easy. Anti-gun groups can’t sell facts. So they sell fear:
- They lie in polls to get rigged results (like Giffords’ infamous push poll)
- They lie in op-eds to sway emotion-driven voters
- They lie on the floor of Congress to score headlines
But facts still matter—and you, the American gun owner, deserve the truth.
Suppressors reduce hearing damage, lower noise pollution, and do not increase crime. They are legal in 42 states, and hunting with them is legal in 41. The only reason they’re still regulated under the NFA is inertia—and anti-gun lobbyists desperate to keep every win from going your way.
Final Thought
If suppressors were truly the “tool of killers,” as some senators screeched, we’d see it
the suppressors cant figure out how to make gun fire
The “right” clearly fears suppressors as well, or Trump, Vance, Thune and Johnson and the entire GOP would’ve included the FULL HPA in the recent “Big Beautiful Bill”. Don’t forget SHORT too, that would’ve been helpful as well for 2A.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats are pro 2A.
Governments do not want an armed citizenry.