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Just when gun owners thought Congress might finally be moving toward treating suppressors like the safety devices they are, a New Jersey lawmaker is heading in the opposite direction.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) has reintroduced the Help Empower Americans to Respond (HEAR) Act, legislation that would ban the importation, manufacture, sale, transfer, and possession of firearm suppressors nationwide.
If passed, the bill would effectively criminalize ownership of more than two million lawfully registered suppressors currently possessed by Americans.
And that’s where things get interesting.
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“Tools of Murder” or Hearing Protection?
In announcing the legislation, Watson Coleman argued that suppressors have “no legal application” and described them as “tools of murder.”
“Silencers are not tools of self-defense, they are tools of murder,” Watson Coleman said in a statement.
That’s a claim likely to raise eyebrows among hunters, sport shooters, competitive shooters, and firearm instructors who use suppressors every day to reduce hearing damage.
Despite Hollywood’s portrayal, suppressors don’t turn firearms into whisper-quiet assassin tools. They simply reduce the report of a gunshot, much like a muffler reduces noise from a vehicle exhaust system. Even suppressed firearms typically produce noise levels above thresholds capable of causing hearing damage.
For that reason, suppressors are widely marketed and used as hearing-protection devices.
A Growing Market
The congresswoman’s office pointed to the dramatic increase in suppressor ownership as justification for the legislation.
According to the release, there were approximately 285,000 registered suppressors in 2010. That number has now grown to more than two million.
We would argue that statistic demonstrates growing acceptance and lawful use rather than a public-safety crisis.
After all, if millions of Americans are legally buying, registering, and using suppressors while violent crime involving suppressors remains relatively rare, it’s safe to say they are hardly the menace they’re being portrayed as.
Virginia Beach Still Driving the Debate
Watson Coleman first introduced the legislation following the 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting, where the killer used a suppressor-equipped handgun during an attack that left 12 people dead.
Gun-control organizations have repeatedly cited the tragedy as evidence that suppressors pose a public danger.
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Most gun owners would argue that’s backwards. A product doesn’t become a “tool of murder” or a “public danger” simply because a murderer used it. Otherwise, every firearm, optic, magazine, and accessory would be one crime away from being banned.
Timing Is No Accident
The reintroduction comes as suppressors have become one of the hottest issues in the firearms community.
Congress recently eliminated the long-criticized $200 transfer tax that had been attached to suppressor purchases under federal law for decades. While registration requirements remain in place, gun-rights groups viewed the tax repeal as a significant victory.
Now, anti-gun lawmakers appear determined to reverse course entirely. Rather than debating registration requirements or taxation, the HEAR Act would go straight to prohibition.
That’s a remarkable shift considering suppressors have been federally regulated since the National Firearms Act was enacted in 1934.
GOA: Bill Targets Lawful Owners, Not Criminals
The proposal is already drawing opposition from Gun Owners of America (GOA), which argues the legislation would punish law-abiding Americans rather than address criminal misuse.
“Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman and a small cohort of her colleagues are attempting to confiscate Second Amendment-protected items simply because a minority of states unconstitutionally ban suppressors,” said Ben Huyn Sanderson, GOA’s Deputy Director of Federal Affairs.
“Law-abiding gun owners who possess suppressors are exercising their constitutional rights and should not be subject to the whims of anti-gun representatives or state governments that refuse to respect the right to keep and bear arms.”
GOA has been one of the most vocal advocates for removing federal restrictions on suppressors, arguing the devices are commonly used for hearing protection and are overwhelmingly owned by lawful gun owners. The organization views the HEAR Act as a direct attack on the rights of millions of Americans who legally own federally registered suppressors.
What Happens Next?
The legislation has attracted several Democratic co-sponsors, including Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jahana Hayes, Glenn Ivey, Sean Casten, and Ed Case. That said, this bill probably won’t gain any meaningful traction.
Still, the bill serves as a reminder that suppressors remain firmly in the crosshairs of gun-control advocates despite their growing popularity among lawful firearm owners.
For millions of Americans who use suppressors to protect their hearing at the range or in the field, the HEAR Act isn’t a modest regulatory tweak. It’s an outright ban.
And if lawmakers ever needed proof that no gun-rights victory is permanent, this bill may be Exhibit A.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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It is a worthwhile bill. If a person needs hearing protection a secret device known as “ear muffs” or “ear plugs” have been around since the Moon was captured by the Earth.
Trying to spread pure bull crap that people buy silencers for hearing protections is laughable. When asked in private 99% of the people I spoke to said “I bought a silencer incase I ever needed it” and the look of evil on their faces was chilling!
Idiots who put silencers on their weapons then often think they can shoot high power center fire weapons in their back yard not realizing over penetration and ricochets can and do kill their neighbors. These are the type of idiots who often buy such devices and the other group buy them to kill people with. Several years a go a nut case with two handguns equipped with silencers on them walked into his workplace and just started killing people which was made far easier because of the reduced noise level. Often even background auto traffic is enough to cover up a weapon being fired with a silencer depending on the caliber and ammo used.
Lets face facts a person with an assault rifle like an AR15 and with a .22 l.r. conversion kit could spray down a crowd of people at a large gathering and none of them would even realize they were being fired upon until dozens of bodies were piling up. If this does not shock you then you need to see a psychiatrist. With maniacs gunning down people every other day in Capitalvania where life is considered cheap and expendable do we want to dramatically increase the kill ratio by giving these nut cases all silencers sold over the counter with no in depth background check if they are taken off the NFA list like the Right Wing Lunatics want to do ? I think not.
With good already existing hearing protection the excuse that the killer silencer is bought for hearing protections falls flat on its face and is nothing more than pure propaganda and just a downright big fat lie.
Currently ever silencer is registered if legal and requires an extensive background check far deeper than what one gets when purchasing a firearm on a 4473 form and this is the way it should remain. The NFA does not ban silencers but heavily regulates them and it only makes common sense.
In fact all firearms purchases, even private sales, “should” have to all go through an NFA check which is far more detailed than what a 4473 background check is plus the NFA registers every purchase. The European type registration and background check system has reduced gun violence far more than in the U.S. where “second hand” guns change hands with only a wink and a nod, which is of course pure insanity!!! No one but a full blown sick paranoid would argue otherwise against requiring every purchase to have a paper trail. The supply of guns finding their way into criminal hands would be reduced dramatically.
The difficulty in buying an illegal gun in civilized countries is well known. In the U.S. you can buy an unregistered gun faster than you can buy a hamburger and fries which again is so nuts civilized nations wonder why such insanity is even tolerated in the U.S. when 45,000 people a year a gunned down including 1,500 of which are children, and often while they are sitting in school. It’s total madness.
To the full blown Paranoid’s even 1,500 children’s deaths a year is not too big a price to pay on the altar of zero gun control.
What isn’t “in the crosshairs” of leftofascists? Total control of lives is always their ultimate goal
quote——————Total control of lives is always their ultimate goal——————
Yeah sure like when the Nazi Far Right make sex slaves out of women by controlling their bodies with bans on contraception and bans on a woman’s right to chose.
Or when Liberals brought you Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and aid to educational expenses and workman’s compensation and unemployment insurance which the Gangster Criminal Republicans are out to destroy. These criminals took away our Obama Care Health Care extensions earlier this year denying millions of Americans drug coverage including your truly so do not bullshit me that this is not a valid truth. These A-holes are also trying to privatize Social Security which would destroy it. Currently they are hell bent on reducing Social Security Benefits.
Liberals along with a lot of Independents and even many Conservatives also realize that without mandatory background checks on “all” gun purchases that there is a sea of second hand guns being sold to criminals and lunatics.
And it is Liberals who want free health care for all Americans. Currently over 180,000 people die like dogs in the street because they cannot even afford preventive health care and many more die because they cannot afford life saving drugs and operations. Only a damn idiot would vote Republican.
The idiots on the Far Right would rather save a penny in taxes today and then go bankrupt tomorrow when they need medical care and cannot afford it. Its not rocket science Jethro.
“Liberals brought you Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?” LMFAO! We taxpayers pay for it, it wasn’t given to us…..and those politicians don’t even participate in any of those schemes. They have their own federal pension and healthcare programs. I could be making MORE in monthly income if I had been allowed to invest my own SSA contributions. But keep drinking that Kool-aid, dude, and whatever else you like to swallow 😂
quote—————- if I had been allowed to invest my own SSA contributions. ———quote
Yes i have heard that idiot Far Right propaganda as far back as the 1960’s. Its ludicrous for the average worker and his low income. He has bills to pay and somehow that so called disposable income never makes it into a retirement account and almost never into a gamble in the stock market or other types of investments. The result is he “has no pension” when he retires. In fact before the advent of Social Security 85% of all retirees were living in poverty so your wild and fantasy claims that the average person would be better off investing his money is pure bullshit.
Republicans steal your tax dollars and give them to the Super Rich in a variety of ways because they pay zero taxes (Amazon made 2 billion in profit one year and paid zero taxes) and the super rich get Corporate Subsidies (Corporate Welfare) and then they fund some of the money back into the pockets of the criminal Republicans. Those tax dollars would make Social Security solvent for the next 75 years and would double the amount of Social Security now being paid which compared to other industrialized countries is an insult to the American citizens measly handouts of their own money. Again only a fool would vote Republican.
Give up Jethro you flunked History and Political Science Classes 101 assuming you ever had them.
everything is in the crosshairs of the commie left!