So… my new pellet gun, which should get here next week, supposedly on July 5, is known to be a little loud.
So I did a google search on “pellet gun silencer.”
According to many of the results I got back from that search, I am now likely on a BATF “watch list” for potential federal firearms laws violations.
Seriously.
What’s even worse is I watched a fascinating Youtube video on how silencers work. And that video had a huge disclaimer about how even watching the video was likely to get you in trouble.
Then on one of the pellet gun boards they posted a legal case where a guy got convicted of federal firearms violations for shipping a pellet gun with a home made silencer attached. He actually eventually won the case on appeal but not before serving time in jail.
This is serious stuff! Apparently the BATF has a hair trigger in investigating and prosecuting any potential use, creation and especially sale of any noise suppression device that can be put on a firearm. And since the technology that suppresses sound on a pellet gun also works on firearms, well, that means pellet gun silencers are potentially illegal too.
Now, from what I’ve gleaned by risking watching a few videos and reading up on the technology of silencers, I actually believe a pellet gun silencer would not need all the components of a firearm silencer (primarily due to the lack of hot and in some cases still burning gases in firearms), the basic ideas are similar enough that a pellet gun silencer adapted to a gun would probably reduce the noise a bit, and might reduce it enough to qualify as a “silencer.”
I am sort of amazed that this is such a potentially dangerous area of investigation. I suppose I understand it, but from what I can understand, just talking about it can get you in trouble.
I am really sort of amazed… and a bit concerned. My natural curiosity is going to get me in a world of hurt one day. But I didn’t think it would be over PELLET GUNS.
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackCosmic,
I don’t think so. See: http://www.shootingillustrated.com/index.php/24620/suppressor-basics/
The NRA’s main website would overload the ATF. Suppressors are not illegal *if* you have the right permit. Which costs $200 and an extensive background check.
Lots of gun blogs and mags have articles about suppressors.
Yours,
Tom
Tom, I haven’t exhaustively looked into this, but I believe what you can file paperwork and pay an extortive fee to gain a permit to own is a “class 3″ suppressor, which is designed to be only as effective as the government allows it to be.
Home made suppressors and selling them (I should say “without a permit”) are big problems.
But, yeah, you can apply for and obtain a permit to own a class 3 suppressor.
Which probably is enough to take the edge off a pellet gun if I really want one.
But another $200? arg….
Yes, homemade suppressors are an issue. According to CSI a potato makes a good one.
Yours,
Tom
After the “research” I’ve done, I hesitate to dispense any of the information I’ve found.
However, I can tell you that you can do a lot better than a potato with things you can find around your house. There are some extremely effective one-use techniques that the BATF would very much like people to not know about apparently.
I do think that there should be a distinction between air gun and firearm suppressors though. The firearm suppressors really do need to deal with extremely hot, and frequently still burning, gases, while air gun suppressors do not. So a perfectly usable air gun suppressor would not only not necessarily be effective on a firearm (particularly a center fire rifle) but it would potentially be damaged significantly by the blast.
But the law is the law. And I don’t want to break the law.
I am pursuing what is called a “barrel shroud” which is supposed to reduce the noise but without being categorized as a “suppressor” or “silencer.” Hopefully that will be enough to keep the neighbors happy.
One more thing… just to explain why there is concern even when class 3 suppressors can be legitimately obtained…
To get a class 3 suppressor actually requires more government paperwork than buying a rifle or shotgun. And while you can buy a rifle or shotgun out of state and carry it back home, it is technically illegal to do the same with a “silencer.” In fact you have to have a license to carry one across state lines, unless you get a specific permit to do so. In some locales they are illegal so you can’t even own one.
The class 3 permit requires you to have a full background check, not have any felony on your record and a written document from the local sheriff saying that he/she approves your ownership of one. You have to be fingerprinted and you go into a database that is run by the BATF and FBI.
So you might think it’s a big deal to just make your own.
It’s not. In fact it’s pretty dirt simple. Anyone with half a brain, a local hardware store and a bit of cash can make a commercial grade silencer in a day.
That’s one reason the BATF keeps such a sharp eye out for people talking about them. The guy who got arrested was nailed because of an email he sent to a customer which was forwarded to the FBI for unrelated reasons, and they searched a package he was shipping and found the silencer and pellet gun. Next thing he knew, he was in jail.
I’m totally turning you in for the bounty.
New car, here we come!
LOL, too late, you posted here, so you’re tainted too.
NOTE TO INVESTIGATORS:
I am willing to talk deal. You want the real dirt on Cosmic? I’ve got all the details.
Hey now, I’m not the one posting about killing fluffy bunnies in my yard….
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