By Jeff Johnston, FE Hunting & Shooting Editor
I’m not bullshitting when I say that there hasn’t been a better time in the last 90 years—since the passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934—to buy a suppressor. Sure, it’s ridiculous that a sound-reducing metal tube that was invented alongside the car muffler in 1903 should require a $200 tax stamp, an anal probe and approval from the government to own, but that’s our reality. But alas, I bear good news.
First, you don’t really have to get anally probed, just fingerprinted. Second, there are two things that have happened very recently that minimize the asswhip that is having a police department fingerprint you and the excruciating 9-month delay as you wait to be approved so you can actually take your suppressor home and use it.
The first thing that happened was that the ATF finally updated its paper Form 4s requirement to a digital system. Now you can fill it out on a computer and email it rather than sending it via the Pony Express. The second piece to fall into place is that the Silencer Shop company of Austin, TX, manufactured automated kiosks and distributed more than 3000 of them to gun stores around the country. (Check the map here to find the closest one to you.) Now, instead of setting up a date to be fingerprinted by the police, getting passport-style photographed and snail-mailing your paper Form 4 each time you decide you want a suppressor, you can go online to silencershop.com (or a retail store), pick out a suppressor, pay for it via credit card, then journey to a kiosk location where you will create an ATF account before digitally filling out your Form 4 along with your fingerprints and photos that are taken on-screen. Finally, you’ll pay the $200 tax stamp fee and submit everything right there.
With luck and a clean background check, you’ll be able to pick up your new suppressor—or suppressors—the next day if you purchased it at a retail store, or if you bought it from Silencer Shop online, they’ll ship it to you. As of late July, I know for a fact that the ATF approval turnaround is now 1- 2 days rather than 9 months to a year. To everyone who’s ever purchased a suppressor the old-fashioned way, the new system is amazingly simple.
Since 1934 there has never been a better time to buy a can, and if you play it smart, you can likely find a special deal on Silencer Shop’s website where they’ll include the $200 tax stamp for free with purchase. You can thank me later when you’re 70 years old and still have your hearing.
