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On Wednesday Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) explained that removing the federal tax on suppressors is not enough and called for the devices to be reclassified so law-abiding citizens can acquire them with greater ease. Cline posted to X: Republicans were on the cusp of passing a Hearing Protection Act in 2017, but then House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) shelved the bill two days after the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting. Breitbart News noted that suppressors were not used in the Vegas attack but Hillary Clinton had tweeted her opposition to suppressors, suggesting more lives would have been lost if the Vegas gunman had used suppressors, and Ryan folded. Clinton’s claims were based in the Hollywood mythology that presents suppressors as devices that completely silence firearms. In the real world, Cline and other Republicans describe suppressor deregulation as hearing protection because the devices remove the sharp, ear-splitting sound associated with a gunshot. Suppressors do not silence firearms, they simply muffle the report, thereby reducing or eliminating damage the sound of the gunshot might otherwise do to a hunter or target shooter’s hearing. Moreover, suppressors also protect the environment, preserving the natural ambience of the locations where hunters hunt. AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
