The SHUSH Act is probably one of the more important bits of legislation out there right now. What it does is deregulate suppressors and override state prohibitions on them, among other things.
Undoubtedly, anti-gunners are going to freak out should this measure appear likely to pass. They’re already concerned about it, and why is that? Because Hollywood is who taught them everything they know about guns.
But this is a bit of legislation that needs to come to pass, and over at The Truth About Guns, Darwin Nercesian has thoughts on why we should, which also include his own tinnitus, to be fair.
But why do we need this fight in the first place? There are a few answers to that question, covering topics like the incessant need of people who only call themselves American to chip away at our civil liberties and Hollywood propaganda, whether on purpose or simply due to the film and television industry being deceptive by means of stupidity. You decide.
“Despite what Hollywood may lead you to believe, silencers aren’t silent, and they aren’t just for secret agents… They are a vital tool for hearing protection for countless marksmen and gun enthusiasts across America, and making them prohibitively difficult to obtain is an assault on the 2nd Amendment. The SHUSH Act eliminates federal regulation of silencers and treats them as the non-lethal accessory that they are,” says Senator Lee.
I’d like to add that obstacles making silencer ownership difficult and more arduous are also an assault on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For years, I would have this conversation with ATF agents at their booth while attending SHOT Show. Not only can silencers be a significant tool to prevent hearing loss, but they can also protect those of us who already suffer damage from being exposed to ongoing deterioration. I would even go so far as to cite case studies demonstrating that tinnitus has been found to increase the risk of suicide as it causes emotional stress that can be extreme, bringing on anxiety, depression, or sleep disorders.
Every year, I would get some ATF agent with an IQ barely equivalent to his shoe size to grin as if about to profoundly put me in my place before saying, “Well, you don’t have to shoot guns,” to which I would always respond, “Neither does anyone need to be able to dine in at every restaurant in the city, but they still need to provide ramps and wheelchair access.” At this point, the agent would find his way out of the conversation by either walking away or telling me he didn’t want to have the conversation. Sore losers.
“Suppressors are a vital tool for responsible gun owners that protect hearing, enhance safety, and reduce firearm noise—but thanks to Hollywood and federal overreach, they’ve been unfairly vilified… Law-abiding Americans shouldn’t have to endure months of red tape and pay an additional tax just to access a safety accessory. The SHUSH Act puts an end to this unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, eliminates the federal tax, and prevents state overreach by treating suppressors like any other firearm accessory,” says Congressman Cloud.
Go and read the whole thing. They do good work over there, and while there has apparently been a history of rivalry between us and them, I have nothing but respect for that bunch. No one gave me the rivalry memo when I started here, so I’m not playing any such game.
The truth is that suppressors are a safety device. That’s why they were developed. They have military applications, sure, but they’re not at all what most of the American public thinks they are.
Far too many develop opinions on things like suppressors based not on personal observation, but on what they’ve seen portrayed in movies and on television.
There, the suppressor takes any round and makes it perfectly silent. There’s no noise at all. You could shoot someone in a quiet theater or in a church during Sunday service and no one would realize what happened unless they were looking at the target.
But that doesn’t reflect the reality.
First, even if it could make the shot itself perfectly silent, most ammunition is supersonic. It’s going to break the sound barrier as it flies through the air. Sonic booms are a real thing, folks, and you can’t just make that go away in something that fast with no throttle control. Subsonic ammo does exist, of course, but that means giving up power in many cases unless you use some particular rounds. Most of them, however, aren’t subsonic as designed.
And as we saw with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, there can be other issues in using a suppressor with a firearm that makes it a terrible option for crime.
But as a safety device, it works. It works well.
It reduces the sound of the shot enough that you’re not going to have quite as much issue. In many cases, you still need hearing protection, but not universally so. Even when you do need it, though, the sound is still lessened to such a degree that others in the general area of your range or your property won’t have their own peace and quiet disturbed.
The trick is going to be to get the SHUSH Act through Congress.
As it stands, the Senate is the big hurdle. We can probably convince enough lawmakers in the House to make this happen, but the filibuster is still a thing in the Senate, which means this as a standalone bill is going to be problematic. This will get filibustered by anti-gun lawmakers and we all know it.
Yet if you tack this onto something they can’t afford to vote against, then you have something. This is how a lot of gun control has been put into place over the years in various places, so this is precisely the tactic we should start using to get our gun rights back.
Either way, though, the SHUSH Act needs to pass, and all of this is why over and above the fact that our right to keep and bear arms should be sacrosanct.
