In a lot of places, suppressors aren't considered dangerous accessories that have no place in civilian hands. They might view guns that way, but not suppressors.
Instead, they see them as good manners. People shooting on their own land, using suppressors, are just being polite. Here, they can land you in prison for a very long time...for now, at least.
And if you do have a suppressor legally, you run into another problem. You see, suppressor parts face the potential of being regulated by future ATF directors, attorneys general, or presidents as suppressors themselves, which would make repairing said suppressors a legal nightmare.
A bill has been introduced that would change all of that. That's the good news.
The bad news? It was introduced in the Senate.
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A new bill introduced by two Republican U.S. Senators would protect gun owners from overreach by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in regard to firearm suppressors of “silencers.”
The Protecting Americans’ Right to Silence (PARTS) Act, introduced by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, would modernize outdated federal regulations on firearm suppressors, providing much-needed clarity to manufacturers, retailers and law-abiding gun owners.
According to Sen. Cassidy, the ATF’s vague and outdated definition of “silencer” under the Gun Control Act could allow unelected bureaucrats to classify individual silencer components as regulated silencers, leading to unnecessary restrictions on gun owners and manufacturers. In 2023, the ATF issued guidance suggesting that even simple, unassembled parts could be considered regulated silencers—an overreach that threatens Second Amendment rights and stifles industry innovation.
The PARTS Act would help alleviate that potential overreach by updating the definition of ‘silencer’ to focus on complete devices and a single principal component—similar to a firearm’s frame or receiver—rather than broad, vague terms like “combination of parts” or “any part intended only for use” in a silencer. Additionally, it would ensure that gun owners could purchase replacement parts like wipes without burdensome ATF paperwork and prevent ATF from using subjective interpretation to unfairly target gun owners and businesses.
Now, the Department of Justice is currently looking at some of its litigation positions, and at least one case they're looking at deals with suppressors. Should they take a position that suppressors shouldn't be regulated at all, and the judge listens, much of this bill becomes null and void from the outset. It won't be needed in any way.
But the truth of the matter is that now that suppressors are becoming more of a legislative battleground issue, someone is going to try to overreach on suppressor parts. A bill like this would help prevent that.
The issue is that Democrats, who famously hated the "racist" filibuster when they were the majority, will now most assuredly use it to try and block a bill like this.
See, it's only racist when they're not using it.
As a result, though, they're going to block this. Nothing is likely to come of this in the grand scheme of things unless a few Democrats will cross the line, and on something like this? Don't hold your breath.
