Breaking: Florida hunters given quiet time following suppressor decision

At a meeting in Key Largo, Friday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to remove the ban on using silencers on pistols and rifles for hunting game animals despite opposition by gun control groups.

With repeal of the ban, instituted in 1957, sportsmen in the state equipped with National Firearms Act-compliant suppressors, also referred to as silencers, will now be able to hunt deer, gray squirrels, rabbits, wild turkeys, quail and crows. Using suppressors for non-game animals was already allowed.

“This morning, the FWC took a major step towards making hunting a safer experience in Florida,” Knox Williams, President of the American Suppressor Association told Guns.com soon after the vote. “Sportsmen and women in the state spoke, and the Commissioners listened. We are thrilled that Floridians will now be able to use suppressors in the field, regardless of what type of animal they are hunting.”

The rule change was proposed earlier this summer and evaluated at open meetings in which the Commission gave its preliminary approval. However mounting opposition from gun control groups including the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence, is perceived to have let to a last minute delay in the vote, originally planned for Thursday.

Among the gun control advocates’ primary argument was that the increased use of suppressors by Florida sportsmen would led to an unsafe environment in the state’s woodlands, with hunters and hikers not able to hear nearby gunshots.

“Bottom line is this has nothing to do with safety. This is about helping the gun industry sell additional products,” Ladd Everitt, communication director for CSGV told Guns.com following the vote. “Marion Hammer [the National Rifle Association’s lobbyist in the state] said ‘Do it’ and as usual, Florida obliged while asking few if any questions about the impacts on public safety.”

Following the successful vote to repeal the suppressor prohibition, the Commission authorized an Executive Order, # EO 14-32, to lift the ban immediately and allow hunting with suppressors to being at once. With that, using suppressor-equipped rifles, pistols, and shotguns is now legal for all hunting in Florida. The Sunshine State is now the 32nd in the country to approve such policy through either mandate, regulatory change, or legislation.

Industry groups praised the FWC’s vote Friday.

“NSSF thanks the FWC for acting to approve the use of suppressors in hunting. Their action today is of immediate benefit to hunters and the general public alike,” Michael Bazinet, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation told Guns.com.

Currently there are nearly 600,000 registered suppressors nationwide, with Florida collectors holding some 40,000 of those. The state ranks third in ownership of these sound moderating devices, with only Texas and Georgia having more. Both of those states already allowed hunting by otherwise lawful suppressor-equipped sportsmen.

As such, the devices, once the realm of fictional Hollywood portrayals, are now moving into the mainstream. Now, the estimated 242,000 hunters in Florida have a new option.

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