Reports are coming into TTAG headquarters that there has been a round of layoffs at SilencerCo with around a hundred employees impacted. The layoffs alone are news, but the reason being cited by some who are now in search of a new job is more interesting: flagging sales due to the pending Hearing Protection Act.
One thing holding up most people from adding a can to their collection is the paperwork and the wait involved with the current National Firearms Act regulations surrounding those items. It’s a gigantic pain in the rear end, taking over six months.
The pending Hearing Protection Act would, by any reasonable expectation, be a huge boon to suppressor sales. But while the bill’s prospects appear to be good, it has buyers waiting to see what happens. According to people I’ve spoken to, customers seem content to wait a few months to see how the process shakes out, hopeful that it will mean much less pain time consuming if the hoped for changes come to pass.
While they wait, though, silencer sales wait with them. It sounds like SilencerCo has finally been hit hard enough by the unwillingness of the American public to shell out for new cans with this level of uncertainty that they can’t support their current staffing levels and are throttling back.
We reached out to SilencerCo for comment, but have not received a response.