Why It Matters: Suppressors are a common tool used by hunters and recreational shooters to protect their hearing, be respectful of others around them, and, in many cases, increase the accuracy of their firearms while simultaneously reducing recoil This has the added benefit of making each shot safer, and helping to ensure a clean harvest while hunting. States that still restrict suppressor ownership or use while hunting are eliminating access by their citizens to the only hearing protection technology currently available that protects not only the shooter’s hearing, but also the hearing of anyone in close proximity, including hunting dogs.
Highlights:
- Suppressor registration wait times used to take many months, if not over a year, and sometimes eventwo. Today, wait times have dropped down to just a few days, if not same-day approval.
- The previously long wait times discouraged gun owners from purchasing suppressors, and from the institution of the National Firearms Act in 1934 through May 2021, only a little over 2 million suppressors were put on the books.
- However, with wait times drastically reduced now, combined with the reduced financial burden the $200 tax poses to individuals in the modern era, shooters and hunters are buying suppressors in record numbers. A recent FOIA request to the ATF reveals that from May 2021 until just a few months ago, 2.1 million suppressors were added to the registry.
- This constitutes more suppressors added to the National Firearms Act (NFA) in just the last three years than in the NFA’s first 87 years combined.
- More hunters and recreational shooters are enjoying the hearing protection provided by suppressors than ever before, making our outdoor pursuits safer and more enjoyable.
For many decades, it took several months, if not years, for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to register and approve the transfer of a suppressor before the owner could take possession of it. The expectation for shooters through most of recent memory was to put your money down, submit your form and the $200 tax, then do your best to forget all about it and be pleasantly surprised when you got your approval someday.
However, as the popularity of suppressors has grown over time, the ATF now receives exponentially more applications for suppressors than ever before. This pressure, combined with the joint efforts of many of our industry partners, such as the American Suppressor Association (ASA), the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), and the National Rifle Association (NRA), has resulted in the process being dramatically improved beyond anyone’s expectations over the course of the last year or two.
Today, it’s not uncommon to have your suppressor application approved by the ATF the same day you submit it. For everyone else not quite so fortunate, the process takes just a few days now, not months or years. Those massive wait times that discouraged so many from purchasing suppressors for so many years are gone, and with that barrier eliminated, hunters and shooters are buying suppressors in record numbers.
The now discontinued ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States report used to show the number of silencers that were registered in each state. The final edition in May 2021 reported 2,664,774 silencers in the U.S., more than doubling the 1.3 million silencers disclosed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017.
In a recent Freedom of Information Act request to the ATF, our friends at the NSSF received the additional number of suppressors registered from May 2021 to July 2024. That report reveals that an astounding 2,193,123 more suppressors were sold in that time, which now means a whopping 4.86 million silencers—and counting!—are in possession by law-abiding Americans as of the middle of 2024.
To put that in perspective, the NFA started requiring the registration of suppressors back in 1934, and again, up to May 2021 the NFA had 2.66 million suppressors on the books. Now, American gun owners are on track to exceed 87 years of registered silencers in just the last three years alone.
Those numbers are fantastic news, but we still have lots of work to do when it comes to legalizing suppressors and suppressor hunting in every one of the 50 states. In the Southwest, California stands as the last hold-out, though anti-gun legislators in New Mexico and Colorado are eager to join the Golden State, and that’s where the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and our industry partners come in: working together towards changing the laws in California, and defending the existing ones elsewhere.
Further, these astounding sales numbers, combined with the landmark Bruen decision in 2022 that put the “Common Use Doctrine” into effect regarding judging the constitutionality of gun prohibitions, means we could quite possibly see the end of suppressor restrictions nationwide within the next few years.
As always, CSF will keep you up to date on the latest. Stay tuned!
