Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Not just for hitmen: Gun industry wants looser rules on silencers [View all]
Source: Reuters
World | Tue Mar 8, 2016 12:51pm EST
Not just for hitmen: Gun industry wants looser rules on silencers
FAIRFAX, VA. | BY ANDY SULLIVAN
The U.S. gun industry is trying to shake off the Hollywood hitman image of the gun silencer and rebrand it as a hearing-protection device in a campaign to roll back regulations that date to the 1930s.
Industry lobbying has led to more than a dozen states legalizing silencers for hunting since 2011. Now gun advocates are pressing Congress to repeal a Depression-era law that requires a months-long screening process for silencer buyers - far more scrutiny than gun buyers face.
Sales of silencers - or "suppressors," as the industry prefers to call them - are booming. The number of silencers registered with the U.S. government more than doubled to 792,282 in February 2015 from 360,534 in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Despite their name, silencers can only quiet a gunshot to the level of a jackhammer - not much use for James Bond-style hit jobs.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Not just for hitmen: Gun industry wants looser rules on silencers
FAIRFAX, VA. | BY ANDY SULLIVAN
The U.S. gun industry is trying to shake off the Hollywood hitman image of the gun silencer and rebrand it as a hearing-protection device in a campaign to roll back regulations that date to the 1930s.
Industry lobbying has led to more than a dozen states legalizing silencers for hunting since 2011. Now gun advocates are pressing Congress to repeal a Depression-era law that requires a months-long screening process for silencer buyers - far more scrutiny than gun buyers face.
Sales of silencers - or "suppressors," as the industry prefers to call them - are booming. The number of silencers registered with the U.S. government more than doubled to 792,282 in February 2015 from 360,534 in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Despite their name, silencers can only quiet a gunshot to the level of a jackhammer - not much use for James Bond-style hit jobs.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-silencers-idUSKCN0WA19E
34 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read