House passes bill to put gun silencers in our communities

WASHINGTON — GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the House passage of the reconciliation bill that removed silencers from the National Firearms Act (NFA) in 1934. Nearly 100 years ago, Congress enacted registration, background checks, and fees for these weapons because of the magnitude of their dangerousness and the regularity with which they were used in crime.

Silencers, also known as “suppressors,” obstruct law enforcement efforts to quickly and effectively respond to active shooters since they make it more difficult to recognize the sound of gunfire and locate the source of gunshots. They also mask muzzle flash and reduce recoil, increasing the risk of multiple-casualty shootings. A silencer was used in the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting that killed 12 people. It has also been reported that the shooters in the 2022 Tops Friendly Market massacre in Buffalo, New York, and the 2023 Lewiston, Maine, shooting that murdered 18 people, had tried to purchase silencers, but were denied. 

“Instead of focusing on the safety of American families, House Republicans just gave gun industry CEOs a $1.5 billion tax break to help boost their bottom line. Silencers will only enable shooters to cause more violence and damage without being detected. Law enforcement has opposed efforts to make silencers more accessible for a reason—they’re dangerous and make their jobs harder. For a party that claims to ‘back the blue,’ House Republicans just gave dangerous people a big win and ignored the impact to public safety,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. 

The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence has warned “the widespread and uncontrolled distribution of silencers to an unwary civilian population, combined with the sheer number of firearms freely available in America, is a step in the wrong direction and will result in tragedy, including violence directed at police officers that will be difficult or impossible to investigate effectively.”