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You could say that Hollywood is mainly responsible for maintaining public support for the federal licensing system for silencers, by making suppressed guns look extra special lethal. For example, James Bond dispatched a couple of bodyguards in his last outing with a simple pffft for each baddie. No screaming, no thrashing, no noise to wake their employer — who discovers Bond anyway and chases him through the streets of Paris. Where was I? Suppressor? I just met her! And it seems like she forgot to get dressed this morning. Meanwhile, in Iowa . . .

The bill to legalize [suppressors] was passed through the Iowa Senate on Thursday, March 17, 2016, with a 46 – 4 vote.

(courtesy American Suppressor Association)

Only a small handful of states, including Iowa and Illinois, prohibit suppressors, according to a map [above] from the American Suppressor Association. Other states allow them for hunting.

Needless to say, wqad felt compelled to present the “other side of the story”:

Opponents say silencers are a threat to public safety.  The Violence Policy Center says that silencers have been used in violent crimes, and provided a list of incidents in a publication against gun suppressors.  Those incidents include a situation where a shooter reportedly killed and injured multiple people, yet no neighbors heard any of the 14 shots that were supposedly fired.

WHO reports that the bill is headed to the Iowa House. If approved, suppressors would be legal the moment Republican Governor Branstead signs it into law.

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60 COMMENTS

    • Exactly. Time to use their own tactics against them. “Liberals are anti hearing protection, and are in favor of continued abuse of the hearing impaired.” – Painting the narrative is everything people. We’ve got them on the ground, now let’s kick them while they’re down, and below the belt.

    • You aint griz, he lives n oregon an arrest people. Or he lives n oregon an drags people outta there tents n gnaws on their heads. R u the grizz that does that… Hey grizz its me.Dad, how u doin? Yah mister ranger wearin hat mo fo.

      • Go home THC, you’re drunk.

        Also (judging by your “no assassin’s tools for civilians” comment below) you’ve been watching too many TV shows. They’re called FICTION for a reason.

    • No wrong place ay the right time. Whats the bog hoopala bout suppersors? That stuff is for people we aint, Nasty people that sneak into your house n cut your throat type people.I have no use for an assasins tool, and neither should you. Ear plugs n muffs,leave the supressed weapons to those that do the nasty.

      • THC,

        Earplugs can cause ear infections. (Ask me how I know.) Both earplugs and earmuffs interfere with your ability to hear people and other things around you when target shooting so that degrades safety. When you are hunting, earplugs prohibit you from hearing animals in the distance and when animals approach — both are critical when hunting. Earmuffs interfere with proper cheek weld on the butt stock of rifles: they either mess up your shot or force you to displace the muff over your strong side ear and reduce its effectiveness. Finally, both target shooting and hunting without suppressors is really loud and seriously p!sses off the neighbors.

        For all of those reasons, suppressors should be legal.

        As for your comment that some assassin or criminal might misuse a suppressor, they also misuse cars to speed away from crime scenes. Should we ban suppressors (mufflers) on cars to ensure that we can hear when an assassin or criminal speeds away from a crime scene? After all, if we can hear that painfully loud car speeding away, someone might be able to get a photo of their license plate and description of the vehicle.

        • Plus the fact that if someone has you on their list of people to assassinate, suppressors are not your biggest problem.

        • Mr. 308,

          Exactly. If an assassin wants to take you out silently, they can use poison, a Garrote wire, bow and arrow, or even a short sword from behind.

      • Replace ‘Suppressor’ with ‘gun’ in your comment and you have the anti-gun argument. Long on dramatic imagery, completely devoid of logic or reality. I can hear you whining: “Why do you NEEEED a suppressor?!?”

        I don’t need or want your permission nor your approval.

  1. Alrighty. Sorry-I don’t think “Hollyweird” when I see the island gal. I see a somewhat talented “performer”. And has she ever been anti-gun(she ain’t American) despite having the shite knocked outa her…publicly?

    • I don’t think so but I could be wrong I try not to keep up with these things unless it is something very egregious such as Liam’s stance (not getting anymore of my money). All things considered, she would be the poster child for gun rights for women. Doesn’t matter how famous you are, women are generally smaller and weaker than their male counterparts and having the best force equalizer known to man (and women) would surely make sense to protect oneself from violence.

    • Don’t forget that it can easily be viewed as basic ogling of women. Women are one of the fastest growing groups of gun owners that could be viewed as potential income by this site – nee: Tipton, etc.

      I love boobies, but this and comments perpetuate OFWG club, hence why it completely looks like a secret boys treehouse club. With guns.

  2. ‘If approved, suppressors would be legal the moment Republican Governor Branstead signs it into law.’

    Passing the house will be the easy part, it’s majority Republican. Getting it passed Branstad’s desk will be the hard part, he’s majority RINO. Pleased to hear they found 22 Democrats to vote for this in the senate. Shocked actually.

        • What’s a couple of cop cars flipped over and burned? It’s all in good fun.

          It’s actually been a while since someone was actually killed at VEISHEA.

      • My condolences. There are many POS demtards in the Iowa senate but Quirmbach is consistently one of the most useless. The dem that has my district at least votes correctly once in a while.

        It really is hard to believe the “governor” Gronstal allow this to come to the floor. Same as the mandatory CC law of a few years ago. Gronstal up for reelection this year?

        • ‘There are many POS demtards in the Iowa senate…’

          Which is why it’s so surprising that 22 of them voted for this. It’d be funny if the dems overrode duh Gov’s veto on this one.

          Met the Quirmbag once. Came knocking on my door campaigning. Told him I was a staunch conservative and we probably wouldn’t agree on much, to which he claimed to be good about ‘reaching across the aisle’. I’m guessing he’s a lot like BO in that regard.

  3. I think the gun is merely a metaphor in this case, and has little to nothing to actually do with firearms.

  4. The VPC overestimates how much your average Joe cares about the noises outside of his home. Think about all the ND stories you’ve heard, or the stories of murders where guns were used, when no one actually heard a thing, or if they did, they didn’t bother to phone it in.

    Look around the blogs and forums, and look for a thread about NDs in a home. Rarely do you hear about the cops showing up. So the VPC bit about suppressors aiding and abetting violent crime is complete nonsense. Yes, there’s been crimes with suppressors, but they are so rare as to not be worth discussing. Half the time, the suppressor in question was improvised and not a manufactured one.

    Though the VPC would argue that the current roadblocks to suppressor purchase discourage their use in crimes.

    Not quite – suppressors are expensive and bulky, and thugs usually aren’t concerned about stealth. They want a gun that goes bang that they can stuff in their waistband, or toss in the river afterwards, i.e. small and cheap. Even a criminal would think twice about disposing of a gun with can, even if it was stolen.

    • I can tell you that my one and only ND (so far. knock on wood) was with a 3 inch 357 magnum inside a house late at night on a quiet street in a small town. No one knocked on my door, no cops came by.

      If that doesn’t do it then pretty much nothing will.

      • I’m only asking because I carry a 3″ .357. How long did it take for your ears to stop ringing?

        • Only about a day. I had terrible dreams that night though, of a freight train in a tornado in a lightning storm.

        • Ah, well if I ever have to use my EDC in self defense I’ll have an excuse to hold off answering the po-po’s pesky questions.

      • Sounds like a car door slammin to the neighbors. Done did it, crank up the Mararatnz stereo n toaste the narc, nobody heard nuthin, but a car door slammin…. hahaha I got charges on me they cant prove for murdering a yayhoo in Mo. You all need to deal sum drugs n play the game before you post this hypothectical crap.

      • I think it was in one of the James Bond novels that someone says you can fire an unsuppressed shot anywhere in the world and you’ll almost certainly get away with it, because everyone will wait for a second sound, and when they don’t hear it, they’ll dismiss it as something other than gunfire.

        Also, what the heck is up with the random videos that don’t reflect the content of the post?

        • In my young and stupid days I touched off a couple from a 6 1/2″ Blackhawk while standing on a porch that was surrounded on 5 sides. My ears rang for about 2 hours. I’m guessing with a revolver the shorter barrel doesn’t make that much difference. Mostly worried about having to use is in an elevator or maybe a parking ramp. Concrete does a pretty good job of bouncing sound waves right back at you.

    • Suppressors, properly used, are flippin’ awesome. Want to hunt without hearing protection? Want to shoot outside with less disturbance to your neighbors? Want to shoot at an inside range without blowing your ears out? Want to be able to use your heating after an inside DGU?

      Suppressors.

      They’re not just useful for troops. Many people in the USMC left with a 10% disability rating based on hearing loss. That’s a lot of unnecessary injury and taxpayer dollars lost.

      Maybe you should try actually using a silencer / suppressor before dispensing your advice.

      • Oh poor babies. 10 per cent hearing loss. Its the friggin USMC for cryin out loud. Maybe times have changed, but the USMC didnt care about hearing loss, they cared about killing. WTF happend in 40years,

        • I see now that people are calling you out, and you respond that you were speaking in jest. Either you use ear protection when you shoot, or you lose hearing – unless you use a suppressor. It’s a pretty simple concept. I’m not asking for “pity” about my hearing loss. I haven’t filed for any disability. I’d just like to be able to use a suppressor. Nobody is forcing you to buy one or use one.

  5. Speaking as an Iowan, I can’t wait to get my hands on my first suppressor. I have every faith that Branstad will do the right thing on this one.

      • Well, I’m thinking more about my rifles, but that just involves a simple swap-out of the muzzle brake. Still, it’s going to be hard to decide which calibers to do first!

    • If I could ever get the range to myself at the local Isaak Walton League I’d be more enthusiastic.

      That and if they figured out a way to suppress a GP100.

  6. NOOOO! NOW THOSE EVIL IOWANS CAN KILL HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WITH THEIR AK 15 RIFLES THAT FIRE 600 ROUNDS A SECOND WITH THEIR BLACKNESS AND SHOULDER THINGS THAT GO UP WITHOUT ANYONE HEARING IT! KEEP THEM BANNED! FOR THE CHILDREN!

  7. If the Left had anything they wanted even if it was not enumerated as a constitutional right, and that thing they wanted had a map such as pictured above, they would be finding a case to take to SCOTUS and shaming everyone who is in their way.

    Good work in IA. Maybe if we get the right SCOTUS appointed we can knockout the rest of those states.

  8. Here in NH we have a bill working its way through to legalize suppressor for hunting. I was thinking about it a bit. There are many hunters that use dogs in some fashion or another right? We all know that dog’s ears are much more sensitive to sounds than our own. So why can’t we run a commercial for legalizing suppressors fashioned like those ones for the shelter animals?

    Legalize suppressors.
    For the puppies!

  9. I saw pillows on TV being used to violently kill someone. I’ve also heard its realistic. #BanAllPillows

    As someone who lives in CA I didn’t realize that the vast majority of states actually allow silencers. I thought it was a federal law (Eg closer to 50/50 as to legal/illegal). The more you know…

  10. I think, when I set up my stainless revolver for potential emergency bathroom use, I’ll make sure a couple of earplugs are near it. If I have the time to use them, great…if not, I’ll be really pissed at the BG home invader for making me wreck what’s left of my hearing.

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