by Our next example of prohibitionists lying about suppressors comes from the Cult of Personality known as Giffords.
Silencers, also known as “suppressors,” obstruct law enforcement efforts to quickly and effectively respond to active shooters since they make it more difficult to recognize the sound of gunfire and locate the source of gunshots. They also mask muzzle flash and reduce recoil, increasing the risk of multiple-casualty shootings. A silencer was used in the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting that killed 12 people. It has also been reported that the shooters in the 2022 Tops Friendly Market massacre in Buffalo, New York, and the 2023 Lewiston, Maine, shooting that murdered 18 people, had tried to purchase silencers, but were denied.
“Instead of focusing on the safety of American families, House Republicans just gave gun industry CEOs a $1.5 billion tax break to help boost their bottom line. Silencers will only enable shooters to cause more violence and damage without being detected. Law enforcement has opposed efforts to make silencers more accessible for a reason—they’re dangerous and make their jobs harder. For a party that claims to ‘back the blue,’ House Republicans just gave dangerous people a big win and ignored the impact to public safety,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown.
As I noted in my previous post, 130 decibels is the average of a suppressed gun shot from a 9mm Glock. That is the same amount of sound of a F-18 taking off from a carrier deck. More difficult to recognize the sound of gunfire? I don’t think so.
Reducing recoil and muzzle flash increase the risk of mass-casualty events? Are you kidding me? That has to be one of the more ludicrous arguments made by the prohibitionists.
Insofar as law enforcement opposing efforts to deregulate suppressors, the very article used by Giffords says just the opposite. It points out that the then head of the Fraternal Order of Police didn’t consider it a law enforcement problem. Using 7-8 year old articles regarding LEOs and suppressors to try and make your point just fails.
