Op-Ed: The benefits of using a silencer

Editor's Note: Given the discomfort I have been made aware of regarding HB 234 (Allow Noise Suppressors While Hunting), even among at least one certain supposedly pro-hunting/ pro gun Ohio interest group, it seems many American gun owners and hunters need to be made aware of the wool that has been pulled over their eyes.

by Jim Dickson

One of the best examples of the effectiveness of brainwashing in this country is the transformation of an innocuous safety and noise reduction device to a sinister assassin's tool in the public's mind. While other countries may virtually ban guns, they tend to regard silencers as being in the category of automobile mufflers, a device to protect the hearing and prevent the disturbing the peace.

Typically, silencers have little or no regulation hindering their purchase and use abroad, but in this country, they are classed with machineguns and other National Federation Act-restricted weapons, which constitutes an effective prohibition for the general public. In England and the rest of Europe, it is very common to find permission to hunt on a man's property linked to the provision that you use a silencer so that you don’t disturb the peace. Classically attired proper English gentlemen hunting with silencers on their rifles and shotguns are a common sight on the British hunting fields. Demand is so great that The Saddlery & Gunroom in Kent, England make an integral silencer for an over-and-under 20-gauge shotgun called the Hushpower purely for sporting use. The same is true on the Continent where dapper European gentry pursue game with the modest decorum of silenced weapons.

In South Africa, there are a number of game ranches that will not allow you to hunt unless you have a silencer on your rifle. This prevents the other game from getting spooked and also doesn't upset the non-hunting tourists that are often nearby.

Silencers are readily available for all guns up to and including elephant rifles. You don't hear about that much about them because no one writes about items that are restricted in the U.S.A. What little is written, perpetuates the myth that silencers are sinister devices for police and military use that the hapless citizen cannot be trusted with unless he jumps through BATF's (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) hoops to acquire a registered one and pays a $200 transfer tax on it. Such thinking nullifies the Second Amendment and conditions the mind to accept any outrages a dictator inflicts on his subjects.

Silencers perform three major benefits for the shooter: They increase accuracy; allow the use of more powerful, effective calibers when hunting; and they suppress noise/protect hearing.

Click here to read the entire op-ed at GunWorld.com.

Information on Ohio House Bill 234

• Common sense legislation to allow hunters the option of protecting their hearing through the use of suppressors
• Over 30 states allow use of suppressors
• All states contiguous to Ohio, except MI, allow full use of suppressors while hunting
• With the BATFE control, background check and required proof of legal ownership, this is not a tool poachers/criminals will use
• Hunters would have an option to let them be landowner/neighbor friendly while hunting
• This bill makes another proven safety tool available to hunters and trappers