Everytown Responds to House Passing Legislation that Eliminates Silencer Regulations

WASHINGTON — Early this morning, the House of Representatives passed a reconciliation bill that included provisions to eliminate the registration and ownership requirements for silencers that have been in place since the National Firearms Act went into effect in 1934, including the $200 tax on purchasing the devices and the $200 tax on making them. Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statement in response:

“There’s a reason silencers have been regulated for nearly a century: They make it much harder for law enforcement and bystanders to react quickly to gunshots,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “In the name of gun industry profits, House Republicans are putting law enforcement and our communities at greater risk of being shot — all while gutting health care for millions of Americans.”

A silencer is a device that helps dampen a firearm’s sound signature and eliminate its muzzle flash by allowing the hot gasses that follow a bullet down the barrel to expand and cool before hitting the air outside of the gun. Silencers work like car mufflers, but for firearms. As a result, it is more difficult for bystanders and police to identify that a gun has been fired or where gunshots originate.

Because of the danger they pose, silencers have been highly regulated since 1934. People who want to buy or build a silencer must first submit an application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with their fingerprints, a passport-style photo, and a $200 tax stamp — a fee that has not been raised or adjusted for inflation since 1934 — and undergo an enhanced background check. All of these requirements are now on the chopping block.

High-Profile Crimes Involving Silencers:

• In December 2024, the CEO of UnitedHealthCare was shot and killed in New York City with a 9mm ghost gun equipped with silencer—both of which were made with a 3D printer. 
• In January 2023, a mass shooter used an assault weapon equipped with a silencer to kill 11 and wound nine others at a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, California.
• In May 2019, a mass shooter used two pistols, including one equipped with a silencer, to kill 12 and wound four others at a government office building in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 
• In February 2013, a gunman in Southern California killed four, including two police officers, during a 10-day shooting spree. He first killed the daughter of a former police official and her fiancé. Since he used a silencer, no witnesses heard the gunshots, allowing him to get away. Over the next several days, he used a silencer to shoot at officers in their patrol cars, killing one and wounding two more. When police tracked him down, he used a rifle with a silencer to ambush responding officers, killing another.