Opinion
By Salam Fatohi
This very day, firearm suppressors – or silencers – are legal to own in 42 states and 41 states allow them to be utilized for hunting purposes. Hollywood has portrayed these car-mufflers-for-firearms in a way that has left many Americans confused about what they can and cannot do to the sound – called the “report” – after a gun is fired. Unsurprisingly, the Giffords gun control group is exploiting that misunderstanding for political gain.
The expansive “Big, Beautiful Bill” that passed the House of Representatives last month included a provision to make it less duplicative for law-abiding Americans to legally purchase a firearm suppressor. But now as the U.S. Senate is considering the bill, Giffords concocted a questionable snap poll that lied to a statistically insignificant number of “swing state” voters to claim “making suppressors easier to obtain” for law-abiding Americans is a losing political issue.
As Punchbowl News reported, Giffords released “a new poll from Senate battleground states showing that GOP efforts to make gun silencers more easily available is deeply unpopular.”
“The House Republican version of reconciliation eliminates a $200 federal tax on silencers. But according to the GIFFORDS’ poll, large majorities of voters… don’t want to see that happen and are opposed to the proposed changes,” the report states. The questions include blatantly false statements about the steps needed to legally obtain firearm suppressors if the new legislation were to be enacted.
Readers should view the poll with skepticism. There are more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese.
Flat Out Lies
The blatant lie Giffords told survey respondents is a big one and was undoubtedly done to elicit responses they wanted to hear. In Question 4, respondents were asked, “If this bill to loosen regulations on gun silencers becomes law, background checks would no longer be required to purchase a gun silencer. Do you think a background check should be required to purchase a gun silencer, or not?”
That is not what the House-passed bill does at all. Background checks on firearm suppressors would not go away and, in fact, the exact opposite is true. Under the House-passed version of the bill, if a law-abiding American wanted to purchase a firearm suppressor, he or she would still be required to submit a signed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473 and be verified as not prohibited through an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check. Again, a buyer would still be required to pass an FBI background check, exactly like they must do when purchasing a firearm for which they want their suppressor. Giffords flat out lied to survey respondents.
If that foundational error wasn’t egregious enough, they do more on Question 5.
“… But Republicans in Congress… passed a bill to deregulate silencers, making them cheaper and easier for anyone to buy. Having heard this, let me ask you again: do you think making gun silencers more available to the general public is more of a good idea, or more of a bad idea?”
Once again, not just “anyone” can purchase a firearm silencer, just as not just “anyone” can legally purchase a firearm.
Only law-abiding Americans who pass an FBI NICS background check will be able to obtain silencers – or suppressors – if the budget reconciliation bill passes the U.S. Senate with the suppressor provision included and is signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Suppressor Ownership Surges
The scare tactic playbook is often used by gun control groups that hope Americans won’t be the wiser. It’s similar to their longstanding push to ban Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). But over the past several years, as NSSF has seen firsthand, millions of Americans did their own homework and recognized an AR-15 and AK-47 style rifles were perfect for their needs and purchased one. All told, industry data shows there are over 30 million MSRs in circulation in the U.S. market – making them more common than Ford F-150s on the road today (the most popular selling pickup truck in America).
NSSF has the data on suppressors too – and it’s a similar story. In recent years, Americans have come to recognize the benefits of utilizing a firearm suppressor and have become educated on what they do and don’t do.
According to NSSF’s recent 2025 Suppressor Owner Study, between 2020 and 2024, there was a 265 percent surge in annual suppressor registrations, marking a significant increase in the number of suppressors being purchased. As of December 31, 2024, there are more than 4.5 million suppressors registered and an estimated 3.14 million suppressors belong to consumers – a number that has only grown in the past six months as application processing times have dramatically gone down.
In addition to the sheer numbers of suppressors owned by law-abiding Americans, NSSF survey data reveals the proficiency level of the buyer varies widely, including 27 percent who self-describe as “new” or “competent” shooters, with 16 percent as “expert” and 57 percent as “proficient.”
The top three reasons given for purchasing firearm suppressors in this span include “recreational shooting” at 39 percent, “hunting” at 30 percent and “home protection” at nine percent. The firearm used with a purchaser’s suppressor breaks down along similar lines, with MSRs at 37 percent, traditional hunting rifles at 32 percent and handguns at 23 percent.
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Legislative Leadership
NSSF has long-supported legislation to make it more efficient for law-abiding Americans to use firearm suppressors when they participate in recreational target shooting, hunting, self-defense, and training. The Hearing Protection Act, introduced in 2025 by U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) would do just that. Firearm suppressors reduce the noise level of unsuppressed firearm reports to a safe hearing level.
Additionally, Giffords’ hysterics about criminals using suppressors falls flat. As suppressors sales to law-abiding Americans have increased significantly in recent years, crimes involving suppressors have not. In fact, they’re negligible. In a study looking at the criminal misuse of suppressors in California and nation-wide between 1995 and 2005, there were just 153 federal criminal cases involving suppressors, only 15 of which involved the actual use of the suppressor in the commission of a crime. Less than 0.1 percent of homicides in federal court, an infinitesimally low 0.00006 percent of felonies in California and a mere 0.1 percent of armed robberies involved a suppressor. Suppressed firearms are clearly not the choice for criminals.
The scare tactics deployed by Giffords are unsurprising and predictive. Influencing respondents to achieve a desired outcomes in a public opinion poll is unethical. Its known as a “push poll.” Repeating falsehoods – and flat out lying – about firearms and firearm accessories, like suppressors, is their modus operandi.
Suppressors and SBRs One Step Closer to Freedom, Senate Backs HPA and SHORT Act
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
My first question to now “Senator” Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords whose name the anti-gun group Gifford’s is named after is, who was in charge of security the day his wife was shot and a Federal Judge and young boy were killed? I think we all know the answer to that question. On the issue of suppressors, personally I really don’t need one and I can buy a really nice gun for $800 instead. My $45 electronic ear protectors work fine for me. I do think they need to come off the 1934 NFA though for the benefit… Read more »
If only we could put a silencer on Libturds. I’d pay that $200 infringement tax. Ole Gabby Grifter, the Village Idiot of Gun Control Civil Rights Infringement, as pimped out by hubby Sen. Grifter Kelly. Because Gabby Grifter chose to not be prepared’n’able to decisively deal with evil on the day she won the daily Evil Dispensing Violence Lottery, she’n’hubby want all citizens to be equally unprepared, vulnerable.
If you’re a democrat, and you hear silencer, you think guns. Guns = baaad, bad, bad, bad, so of course you’re against it. We’re never going to “win” this, because they’re always going to fight us. We just have to take what ground we can, and try to hold it, and maybe take some more. The best we can hope for is SCOTUS to give us favorable decisions, because future courts seem reluctant to change things. Look how long Toe v Wade took to change, and it’s STILL not right. I wish there was a magic fix, but as long… Read more »
Here we go again. Idiot Dems that dont have a clue Raising hell over something they know nothing about just to get Atention
The COMMUNISTIC gun group of Giffords ARE LIARS who TWIST FACTS and TRUTH. She and her hubby are HYPOCRITAL LIARS. Guns for me but NOT FOR THEE!!!
I am sorry the Mrs. was shot. I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HARM OF A WANTON KILLER. By-the-way, what happened to the OTHERS who were shot at the same time? I read that at least one of them died!
At least 90% of Americans DEMAND OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS! Even the “supreme court judges and Judges” have stated: The Police have NO RESPONSIBILITY to PROTECT INDIVIDUALS. Individuals MUST PROVIDE THEIR OWN PROTECTION!!
I think if they told the truth once their brains would start working, cant have that with collective