With all the massacres in America these days where crazy lunatics use guns to murder innocent people, you’d think every effort would be made to save lives.
Think about it. If the murderer in the next classroom has silencers and noise suppressors installed on his gun, then chances are other students might not be aware of the carnage taking place next door. With these sound suppresses installed, the murderer now has elemental surprise on his side when he goes from classroom to classroom committing his crime.
That element of surprise is exactly what House Republicans are trying to secure for everyone, especially those individuals who will benefit the most from the devices – the crazy mass murderers.
House Republicans on Thursday introduced a bill that would eliminate a federal tax on gun silencers and would weaken licensing requirements that currently make the devices more difficult to buy than most firearms.
The Hearing Protection Act of 2015, proposed by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) and co-sponsored by 10 of his colleagues, would do this by removing silencers, which are also called suppressors, from the purview of the National Firearms Act, instead putting them in the same regulatory category as long guns. As its title suggests, the bill’s sponsors are framing it as an effort to keep shooters from damaging their ears.
In 1934, in the wake of Prohibition-era violence carried out by heavily armed bootleggers and gangsters, sound-suppressing devices were included on a list of NFA weaponry and other hardware, alongside firearms like machine guns and short-barreled shotguns. Today, purchases of silencers are still subject to a $200 fee, which covers an extensive FBI background check that can take months to complete.
