is a suppressor the same as a silencer
Messages: 17,574. Suppressor or sound suppressor and silencer are the same thing. The law uses the term silencer but then says that any device that reduces the sound of a firearm is a silencer.. Some purists, insisting that silencers don't silence (a few really do), began to use the term suppressor, but that only satisfies the ego, it doesn't change the law.