Guns / Firearms

Silencer Bill Silenced (Again) But You Can Still Totally Buy Silencers

You realize that this Congressional fight is about taxes and not your safety, right?

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(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

As we all now know, the GOP-led Congress has been kicking around a bill to ease regulations on silencers.

Silencers (or “suppressors”) are legal. I mean, this is America, of COURSE they are. They’re regulated by the National Firearms Act and subject to restrictions and taxes but, in 42 states, you can totally buy one.

You’ll have to ask a Republican why that is so or what aspect of the Second Amendment originally pertains to suppressors. “A stealthy Militia, being necessary to the covert operations of a free State, the right of the people to drop from a ventilation shaft and take out two guards before they can alert the Bond villain to your presence, shall not be infringed.”

The proposed legislation makes suppressors easier to buy and harder to tax. That’s all. It’s not about making us more safe. A bill like that would never even be considered by Congress. And it’s not really about making attachments easier to purchase because IT IS ALREADY EASY TO PURCHASE FIREARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS IN THIS COUNTRY.

This is just about money. Gun manufacturers, or in this case “suppressor” manufacturers, want more of it.

However, since hundreds of people were shot in Las Vegas this weekend, with weapons that either were illegal, illegally modified, or totally legal in every way, Congress passing a bill to make death easier to purchase is kind of a bad look. This week at least.

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And so Paul “I’m Complicit” Ryan said this about the silencer bill. From the Chicago Tribune:

Ryan said there’s no plan for the House to act soon on a National Rifle Association-backed bill to ease regulations on gun silencers. A House panel had backed the bill last month and lawmakers were expected to move ahead on the measure.

The bill is “not scheduled right now. I don’t know when it will be scheduled,” Ryan said.

The bill has been “not scheduled” before. When Congressman Steve Scalise was shot, Congress momentarily thought it bad to push through a bill making it easier to buy suppressors.

Ultimately though, the NRA wants this. Gun makers want this. And once we get to that crucial point: far enough away from the previous mass shooting, before the next mass shooting happens, Republicans will probably once again try to make it easier to buy silencers.

I point this out not to comment on the policy considerations of buying a suppressor without undue taxation. I point this out to say: IT’S ALREADY LEGAL TO BUY SILENCERS IN FORTY TWO F**KING STATES. That’s already the sick, twisted, DEADLY country we live in. We can’t even get to the margins of a reasonable debate about gun regulation.

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We are neck deep in a river of our own blood, and can no longer see the shoreline. Congress is not pushing gun suppressors all of a sudden. THAT BATTLE WAS LOST SOME TIME AGO. Our Second Amendment jurisprudence is a perversion.

Many more will die.

GOP leader: NRA-backed gun bill to ease regulations on silencers shelved indefinitely [Chicago Tribune]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@preprod-atl.staging.breakingmedia.com. He will resist.

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