09-16-2017, 06:54 PM
stanc Wrote:Again with the "noise pollution" nonsense.
I suppose that the person who came up with this idea, and all of the shooters who repeat it, probably think they are being very clever in employing an environmentalist argument.
If I were a strategist for anti-gun groups, I would have them agree with removing restrictions on suppressors on the grounds it would benefit the public by reducing noise pollution.
Then, as with noise pollution control devices on motor vehicles, I would have them lobby Congress to make it mandatory that all firearms have suppressors attached when in use.
Imagine the effect on concealed (or even open) carry of handguns.
Stanc,
I am starting to think that your signature line is actually representative of your actual personality. I find the posts you write to be both thoughtful and infuriating at the same time. "Noise polution" may be the wrong term, but the effects are as real as you are in front of that keyboard. The fact is that a neighbor firing his 22-250, his AR, or his 9mm off his deck at his own targets do indeed make enough noise that for someone out on their deck wishing to enjoy a quiet sunset is indeed disturbed by their reports. Firing a suppressed firearm would indeed reduce the noise, period. Thus, argument validity becomes an aside. The very fact that we (and the legislation itself) identifies the desire to reduce the noise associated with firearm use makes the "noise pollution" argument valid as the legitimate purpose of the discussion. What is the purpose of a suppressor?
Make suppressors mandatory? Seriously? Fine, I for one welcome the opening of the suppressor market to the general consumer, and the VAST and IMMEDIATE innovation that would come with it. SilencerCo has already been leading the way with an integrally suppressed 9mm. Bring on the new toys! The picture you post is of a suppressor that would very quickly wind up in the back of a safe, and would stay there indefinitely. Obviously, there are ways to make that better, and by opening the market to the American consumer, you'd see how quickly that thing and every other like it would become the very bottom of the list of suppressors to own.
Every disadvantage you think of when making this argument -it's too big, it's too heavy, it's too loud, it's too (whatever); would become the very starting point of a new company, of a new product line, of a new and vastly improved suppressor system. Make suppressors mandatory and wait for the market to catch up. America was MADE for this kind of challenge.
I understand the thought that making a logical argument at a time when feelings and emotions are the norm is starting from a point of weakness. I get that the task is going to take work, effort, maybe even blood, sweat, and tears. Our fore fathers, had they been of the school of thought that anything difficult isn't worth doing... Well, I hate to think of what we'd be like as a nation today. If even a nation at all...