Author Topic: 80% Firearms Silencers: How America Got Here  (Read 466 times)

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Online Elderberry

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80% Firearms Silencers: How America Got Here
« on: July 27, 2020, 12:44:02 pm »
Ammoland by Dean Weingarten 7/26/2020

80% silencer parts are legal in the United States.  In a society built on individual liberty, with checks and balances on government power, it is difficult to effectively ban a simple item. 80% silencers are collections of partly machined parts, sold for other purposes, which can be made into a silencer with a bit of effort by a hobbyist.  They are the analog of 80% receivers for hobbyists to make their own guns.

How did we come to the situation where people are not allowed to purchase a simple hearing safety device over the counter, which they can easily make at home? In addition, they are not allowed to make it at home, without jumping through the same silly bureaucratic hoops, at a significant expense?

Silencers are most useful as a safety device designed to prevent damage to the ears.  They make shooting more pleasant and avoid noise pollution, as the inventor of the silencer, Hiram Percy Maxim, envisioned. Maxim invented the silencer in 1908, 112 years ago.  Henry Maxim, from Range 365.com:

    “The Maxim Silencer was developed to meet my personal desire to enjoy target practice without creating a disturbance. I have always loved to shoot, but I never thoroughly enjoyed it when I knew that the noise was annoying other people. It occurred to me one day that there was no need for the noise. Why not do away with it and SHOOT QUIETLY.”

Silencers were completely legal, and available through the mail, for over 20 years. President Teddy Roosevelt used them and approved of them. The U.S. Army ordered about 9,100 Maxim model 1915 silencers during WWI. After the war, most were sold, with the rifles they were on, as surplus, through the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

There were enough constraints on government power in the 1930s, that the FDR administration did not wish to risk a Constitutional challenge to an outright ban on pistols, sawed-off shotguns, and machine guns. Instead, they imposed a draconian tax, equivalent to $3,800 in 2020.  $200 in 1934 was worth at least $3,800 in 2020 dollars.  In 1934, unskilled labor was paid a dollar a day.

Silencers were included in the 1934 National Firearms Act, as an afterthought. The only reason given was conjecture by a single Congressman. The NRA was able to have handguns stripped from the legislation. Short barreled shotguns, rifles, and silencers were sacrificed as a consolation prize of NRA compromise to the Progressives. The legislation was typical of the FDR administration: heavy-handed, poorly conceived, and draconian in concept. Crimes committed with silencers have always been extremely rare.

More: https://www.ammoland.com/2020/07/80-firearms-silencers-in-america/#axzz6TMNIdg2s