Yeah, thanks for that. I had never really thought of the issue before, not being an "air gun guy", until threeeighty's original post.
Dumb part is that "silencers" ever got associated with "bad guys" in the first place.
The frigging gummit ought to be promoting the untaxed and increased use of them merely as a matter of health, prevention of hearing damage. Imagine the typical range where half the firing going on was through cans. Or even "can only ranges", would sure be nicer for neighboring residents, etc.
I've also seen it said many times that many European countries actually promote their use rather than restrict them for sport shooting, as mentioned in the article.
Gaylord is wrong about this, though:
If that silencer has no serial number, it becomes a firearm without a serial number - the possession of which is a criminal offense. It's only a criminal offense to remove an existing serial number.
- OS