It wasn’t all that long ago that a suppressor for a firearm was a rarity, and most shooters probably thought they were illegal. Back then, if you knew someone who owned a suppressor, you had friends in high places. This all began to change after SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ institute) approved the .300 Blackout cartridge in 2011. Since then, there’s been a suppressor revolution in the United States.
The suppressor is an oddity when it comes to firearms laws and regulations. Even though a suppressor isn’t a firearm, it’s regulated. This regulation began with the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. The NFA imposed a tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms. The impetus of this legislation was to help curtail organized crime that had largely resulted from the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, instituting prohibition.
Without a lengthy history lesson, it appeared lawmakers thought
