When shooting, especially at indoor ranges, one of the bigger concerns is hearing protection. Most firearms are loud, and shooting without some means of moderating the noise—ear plugs or muffs—is a sure path to tinnitus and hearing loss. Also helpful are sound suppressors, which reduce the decibel level of firearms’ discharges (they remain loud, but less so). Unfortunately, suppressors have been severely regulated at the federal level since the 1930s and are banned in some states. But this year, a race is on between litigation and legislation to ease the legal barriers to buying and using suppressors.

Suppressors Benefit Long-Term Health

In 2020, the U.S. Marine Corps began distributing suppressors on a widespread basis because they “can save lives…. The suppressor reduces their audible and visual signature, making it more difficult for the enemy to ascertain their location,” according to Matt Gonzales of Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Another consideration is that “the reduced noise of the suppressors also benefits a Marine’s long-term health…. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, hearing problems are by far the most prevalent service-connected disability among American veterans.”

Civilian shooters aren’t usually worried about being detected in combat, although a lower “audible and visual signature” is a benefit to hunters who don’t want to scare off game. But all shooters share concerns about preserving their hearing. That’s why some countries, such as Norway, leave suppressors largely unregulated. They recognize that they’re good for your health and polite to the neighbors.

Unfortunately, when the hot mess that is the National Firearms Act (NFA) was crafted in the 1930s, the public was in a panic about gangsters who had been empowered by then recently repealed Prohibition. Politicians took advantage and threw together all sorts of restrictions on guns and related items they claimed posed “a significant crime problem because of their frequent use in crime, particularly the gangland crimes of that era such as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) puts it. Suppressors—inaccurately termed silence

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Article from Reason.com

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