“Silencers are not tools of self-defense, they are tools of murder,” said [Rep. Bonnie] Watson Coleman. “They have no legal application which is why law enforcement officials around the country have been calling for their elimination. The HEAR Act will save lives and is part of the common sense approach to firearms legislation that polls show has widespread support among voters on both sides of the aisle.”
This bill was first introduced in 2019 following the deadly Virginia Beach mass shooting, in which a gunman attached a suppressor to a .45-caliber handgun before opening fire in a local government office building where he killed 12 people and injured four more. Instead of passing comprehensive gun safety legislation to ensure this never happens again, in 2025, House Republicans tried to eliminate the registration and ownership requirements for silencers that have been in place since the National Firearms Act went into effect in 1934. While this effort was not successful, gun lobbyists were able to pass a bill eliminating the $200 tax on purchasing the devices.
Gun silencers and suppressors have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the gun industry, which pushed accessories as gun sales level off. While several states, including New Jersey, outlaw gun silencers, they are permitted under current federal law, but must be registered. In 2010, there were 285,087 registered silencers in the United States. Since April 2020, that number has increased to over 2 million. A nationwide ban on silencers would ensure the devices are not trafficked into states where bans are in place.
The Help Empower Americans to Respond (HEAR) Act is endorsed by Newtown Action Alliance.
— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in Rep. Watson Coleman Reintroduces Gun Safety Legislation to Outlaw Gun Silencers
False and delusional logic is strong with this NJ democrat loon.
For example, this…. “This bill was first introduced in 2019 following the deadly Virginia Beach mass shooting, in which a gunman attached a suppressor to a .45-caliber handgun before opening fire in a local government office building where he killed 12 people and injured four more. Instead of passing comprehensive gun safety legislation to ensure this never happens again,…”
This mentally ill killer did not go on his rampage because he had a suppressor and gun – that’s not what drives these killers, the weapon is of little importance to them actually, what they want to do is harm and kill and that is what drives them and is of importance to them, that mental illness depravity, and they do not really care how they do it or what they use as long as that driving mental illness depravity is satisfied. And even if he did not have a suppressor he would have still killed or injured the same amount simply because they were all basically in one place in the building and it was easy to move from target zone to target zone and interdict the exits – heck, under those conditions he could have used a knife and still killed/injured the same amount and probably more. In other words, its a false and delusional logic to think a bill ‘banning suppressors’ would prevent a mentally ill killer from inflicting injury or death as they will simply not use a suppressor if they can’t get one but will still pull the trigger (or stab or bludgeon or blow-up) – in reality your bill had nothing to do with with your false claims of ‘common sense’ and ‘gun safety’, it was pure emotionally driven false logic and delusional thinking based and that’s the reason it did not happen and here you are trying it again with the same false logic and delusional thinking.