Gun Mufflers & The Hearing Protection Act

Let’s hope they get it right.

This week, Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Congressman John “Judge” Carter (R-TX) introduced the highly anticipated H.R. 367, the Hearing Protection Act (HPA).

The Hearing Protection Act is a big, big deal as it would make suppressors cheaper and easier to purchase by removing them from the National Firearms Act (NFA).

Under current law, if one wants a gun muffler they have to wade through a bunch of NFA red tape (registration, photographs & fingerprints, CLEO sign-off), which includes paying a transfer tax of $200, and wait months before receiving their can.

If HPA is approved, the purchasing process would be entirely streamlined and would be analogous to purchasing a firearm from an FFL or gun shop dealer. There would be no NFA paperwork to deal with, no transfer tax, no lengthy waiting period. Instead, all one would need to do is pass a FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check. Easy-peasy.

Sadly, though, this would only be the case for the 42 states that have legalized suppressors. For citizens living in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia, where suppressors have been explicitly outlawed, well, you’d be out of luck.