Firearms Suppressors should be removed from the NFA

I accept your definitions. “... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” 2nd Amnd. When the NFA was put in place and to this day “infringes” on our rights to own and operate small arms as protected in the 2nd Amnd. Suppressors are not “illegal” but they are very difficult and bothersome to obtain. Under the NFA you must pay a $200 tax stamp for EACH suppressor. It’s not a one-time deal. For an accessory for a firearm to cost about as much to the firearm itself, is infringing on my right because it makes ownership cost prohibitive. An individual suppressor can run from around $500 to $1500. Have multiple firearms? $200 per suppressor is adding insult to injury. Not only is the cost infringing but so is the waiting period. On average it takes 6 months to get your paper work cleared. Here is a link to a gun enthusiast forum where some report closer to 8 months. (1) 6-8 months is definitely an infringement. It’s almost as if the government makes the process as miserable as possible to deter people from getting them. That’s why I haven’t went and got a suppressor for my 9mm. There is zero reason that it should take that long when we have instant back ground checks. Why shouldn’t the same background check you get when you purchase your gun also apply to getting a suppressor? Source (2) is a link detailing all the crap you have to go through in order to exercise a right that’s supposed to not be infringed. Now, onto the purpose of a suppressor. Suppressors do just what the name implies. It “suppresses” the sound of the gun being fired. Now, suppressing and “silencing” are two different things. Suppressors do not make guns inaudible. They simply reduce the decibels to less than damaging or debilitating levels. First video is an unsuppressed AR-15 at first, then he puts one on. Notice that the gun is still quite loud. So there is no “danger” of an Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooter) or an incident like the movie theater shooting in Aurora, being even more deadly because a “silencer” will allow them to not be heard. I have heard this argument before, as if people will not immediately start screaming when a shooting breaks out? Yeah no one will hear that. Now here comes the question. Why should they be removed from the NFA? Well besides the fact that the NFA is incredibly burdensome and infringes on the 2nd Amendment, there are plenty of practical uses. It shouldn’t be burdensome to exercise the right to use something that itself is not dangerous. 1) In home defense Many people don’t have experience shooting firearms so they don’t know just how loud they are. They get an idea from movies but it’s not the same as having a controlled explosion go off right in front of your face. Shooting guns without hearing protection is deafening. Well, you may say just wear ear protection. I’d agree. But that only applies to the gun range (even then guns are still REALLY REALLY LOUD). If some bad guy invades your home, you don’t have the time to throw on hearing protection. In addition, a gun going off in close quarters will do more damage than in the open because the sound is amplified by bouncing off the walls. Never mind the fact that the ear protection will prevent you from hearing anything else that’s going on. This makes locating the bad guy in your home very difficult. This can be applied to hunting as well. Ear plugs and the like will also prevent you from hearing approaching animals and are cumbersome. A suppressed semi-auto pistol can be very quiet. See second video. Notice that it’s still audible but it’s clear that it will do significantly less damage to your hearing. The other bonus to a suppressor is that you won’t get a huge blinding muzzle flash when fired in the dark. Imagine trying to defend your home at night if you missed your target. Congratulations, you’ve become Helen Keller with a gun... For me, home defense is the main reason why I want a suppressor. I think that’s good for now. I will turn it over to CON. Good luck. See source 3 for the details and applications of suppressors. (3) 1 http://www.thehighroad.org... 2 http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com... 3 http://www.silencerco.com... http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com...