A Republican trifecta in Washington next year will likely see action on a bill to remove firearm suppressors from National Firearms Act regulation after 82 years.
The Hearing Protection Act was introduced last October by U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., and currently has 78 bipartisan co-sponsors from 34 states. Since then, the HPA has been among the top 10 most-viewed bills on Congress.gov almost every week since it was introduced.
However, with a slim Republican majority in the Senate unable to override a near-certain veto from President Obama, the bill has been in doldrums.
Now, with the White House under new management next year, advocates for the measure feel signs are looking up and will likely return to the next Congress with a fresh mandate.
Why is this important? Safety has been increasing in nearly every aspect and product since the beginning of time, but allowing people to protect their hearing by adding silencers to their weapons has been a tough road for gun owners for a long while.
“Imagine for a second that we lived in a world where you had to pay a $200 tax to buy a pair of earplugs,” Knox Williams, president of the American Suppressor Association, the industry trade group for the devices, told Guns.com on Wednesday. “Now, imagine that even after paying that tax you still had to wait 8 months before you could bring your earplugs home with you. As silly as that sounds, it’s the world we live in with suppressors in the NFA.”
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:54AM
As someone who only dabbled with archery as a child, I would imagine the arrow shattering issues are largely a matter of tradeoff - all that extra power obviously lets you shoot further and flatter, and hit your target harder, but puts a lot more demand on the arrow. If you're content instead with the limited range and power that our ancestors used to hunt and wage war with for thousands of years, then you can probably find a featherweight modern bow that will fire traditional wood arrows with an ease and accuracy to make your ancestors green with envy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 23 2016, @06:18AM
Crossbows do not shoot arrows, you dolt, they loose bolts. Shorter, stouter, usually only duofletched, and a heavier head. Best ones use Klingon cloaking technology, so you never see them coming.