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Suppressor Use Expected to Be Minimal

By DAVID RAINER, 黑料天堂

While it may be making headlines around the state, the lifting of the prohibition on firearms suppressors will likely have little impact on the hunting seasons in 黑料天堂.

Although the 黑料天堂 Conservation Advisory Board voted at its May meeting to lift the ban on suppressors, that doesn鈥檛 mean hunters will have easy access to the devices.

The fact is, acquiring a firearms suppressor is a time-consuming, costly endeavor that requires the applicant to traverse many hurdles. All costs associated with the suppressor are required up front, which is the cost of the suppressor and a $200 tax levied by the federal government. Local law enforcement, usually the county sheriff, must sign off on the application, and then it will take from five to seven months to get the permit if there is smooth sailing.

鈥淔irst, we鈥檙e not regulating suppressors,鈥 said Kevin Dodd, Chief of Enforcement with the 黑料天堂 Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division (WFF). 鈥淲e鈥檙e just allowing those who have legally acquired them to use them for hunting purposes. Getting a suppressor is an arduous process with a good bit of paperwork and money involved. We don鈥檛 expect the floodgates to open up for people running out to buy suppressors.鈥

Although the language that was removed by the Conservation Advisory Board called the device a silencer, Dodd said there is no such thing as a silencer.

鈥淚t suppresses the noise, but silencer is a misnomer,鈥 he said. 鈥淎 large number of the people who requested that the ban be lifted had neighbors who were overly alarmed by rifle shots. You can hear a rifle a long way. That doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean it鈥檚 a threat to you or your family. A lot of the calls we get through the course of the year are from people who are overly concerned about hearing gunshots in the distance. People who haven鈥檛 been around hunting will get upset about hearing a gunshot. We felt that if the guns weren鈥檛 so loud that it would ease a lot of folks鈥 minds.鈥

Firearms suppressors, like the one shown by Doug Williamson at The Gun Shoppe in Montgomery, are now legal for hunting in 黑料天堂 as long as the hunter has legally purchased the suppressor and carries the federal tax stamp required for all such devices.

Another reason for lifting the ban was for those new to shooting or hunting with firearms, including women and children, who might be overly apprehensive about loud noises.

鈥淚鈥檓 one of them,鈥 Dodd said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sensitive to loud noise. I can鈥檛 help myself. I flinch every time because of the noise. For kids and first-timers, it鈥檚 good if you can reduce that noise. It also makes for better marksmanship.鈥

The third reason for lifting the ban was the use in wildlife management, such as the control of feral pigs or the harvest of does.

鈥淪ometimes that loud report scares the does into the next county,鈥 Dodd said. 鈥淪o if you can suppress that noise, you may be able to take out three or four pigs as opposed to one. And those does may not be as afraid to come into a food plot.鈥

Dodd said WFF has actually used suppressors in the past for deer control programs near urban areas.

鈥淧eople need to understand that these are not the James Bond-type silencers,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e utilized them in nuisance deer control. They are kinder to the ears, but not completely silent.鈥

Russ Sockwell, a gunsmith at Mark鈥檚 Outdoors in Birmingham, said he also doesn鈥檛 expect to see a rush of people trying to get suppressors. Although Mark鈥檚 Outdoors doesn鈥檛 sell them, Sockwell does thread the end of barrels to accept suppressors.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had any more requests for barrel threading than normal,鈥 said Sockwell. 鈥淎 suppressor should not affect the accuracy of the guns because the suppressor is lined up with the bore of the firearm and the crown of the barrel is not touched. In theory, it should not change the point of impact. In real life, it鈥檚 probably going to change the point of impact, at least a little bit. The biggest problem I think people are going to run into is, for the suppressor to work properly, you have to shoot subsonic ammunition. Most everybody does not do that.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get the boom, but you get the loud crack. With subsonic ammunition, your range is going to be diminished tremendously. I just don鈥檛 see a lot of people getting them. I think the biggest thing that is going to stop a lot of people is the acquisition of the stamp.鈥

Joe Songer, staff photographer/videographer with 黑料天堂 Media Group/The Birmingham News, has been through the process to acquire the suppressor stamp, and he agrees it鈥檚 an arduous process.

Songer said the first step in the process is to find a dealer with a Class 3 firearms license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

鈥淎 lot of places just don鈥檛 want to do that,鈥 Songer said. 鈥淚t requires a different level of experience. I know dealers who just don鈥檛 want to go through the hassle. People need to know that suppressors are heavily regulated. The ATF gets involved. You have to get an FBI background check. You have to have county and federal officials sign off on your application. You have to have a sheriff or police chief sign off on it. You have to go in and be fingerprinted. You have to get a passport-type photo. All of that gets sent to the ATF. The thing is you鈥檝e got to pay for all this up front about six months prior.鈥

Songer went through the process to get a suppressor for his .22 Long Rifle firearms.

鈥淚鈥檝e always wanted one, but it鈥檚 a commitment,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 got one for my .22s. When I got mine, ammo was plentiful and not expensive. I wanted to get introduced to it, and I wanted one that I was going to use quite a bit.鈥

Songer experimented with his suppressed .22s and found that ammunition is a huge component in the amount of noise suppressed.

鈥淭he velocity of the round and the barrel it鈥檚 coming out of make a huge difference,鈥 Songer said. 鈥淎 rifle barrel is going to have a higher velocity than a shorter pistol barrel with the same round. On my guns, I have the best luck with rounds at 1,050 feet per second. When it gets up to around 1,100, I start to get that crack from the bullet going supersonic.

鈥淧eople who are hunting, most of those rounds are supersonic. If somebody takes a hunting rifle and puts a suppressor on and the bullet is traveling at 2,700 feet per second, it鈥檚 not going to be silent. It鈥檒l be quieter, but you鈥檙e going to get the crack when that bullet breaks the sound barrier. That鈥檚 going to happen pretty fast. The thing is, the sound suppression is coming from the muzzle, so it鈥檚 going to be harder to tell where it鈥檚 coming from.鈥

Songer agrees with the opinion that there aren鈥檛 going to be many hunters who will go to the trouble to acquire a suppressor.

鈥淭here are going to be some because there is a cool factor to it,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut when you apply for a suppressor you鈥檙e opening yourself up to a whole lot of scrutiny. And another thing is that the stamp has to be with the suppressor at all times. I can let you shoot it, but I have to be with you and have the stamp with me.鈥

Dodd said if there鈥檚 anything questionable in the applicant鈥檚 background, that person is going to be flagged and the application process stopped.

鈥淓ven if you get the permit, you鈥檙e going to be in their files, so to speak,鈥 Dodd said.

Dodd continued, 鈥淪ome people said to us, 鈥極h, the night hunters are going to go crazy.鈥 That鈥檚 the same argument we heard about crossbows. It didn鈥檛 really come to fruition with crossbows. We鈥檝e actually made night-hunting arrests of people with crossbows. We鈥檝e been able to maneuver around the silent weapon, so to speak. I don鈥檛 anticipate any change with suppressors.

鈥淚鈥檇 be surprised if even five percent of the hunters decide to get a suppressor stamp. Ear muffs are cheaper.鈥

The suppressor may be useful for hunters who use rounds like the .223 for feral-hog control and wildlife-management practices.