Lies, Damned Lies, and Politics: Giffords’ Push Poll Claims the Hearing Protection Act Would Eliminate Background Checks on Silencers

By Salam Fatohi

This very day, firearm suppressors – or silencers – are legal to own in 42 states and 41 states allow them to be utilized for hunting purposes. Hollywood has portrayed these car-mufflers-for-firearms in a way that has left many Americans confused about what they can and cannot do to the sound – called the “report” – after a gun is fired. Unsurprisingly, the Giffords gun control group is exploiting that misunderstanding for political gain.

The expansive “Big Beautiful Bill” that passed the House of Representatives last month included a provision to make it less duplicative for law-abiding Americans to legally purchase a firearm suppressor. But now as the U.S. Senate is considering the bill, the Giffords gun control group has concocted a questionable snap poll that lied to a statistically insignificant number of “swing state” voters to claim “making suppressors easier to obtain” for law-abiding Americans is a losing political issue.

As Punchbowl News reported, Giffords released “a new poll from Senate battleground states showing that GOP efforts to make gun silencers more easily available is deeply unpopular.”

“The House Republican version of reconciliation eliminates a $200 federal tax on silencers. But according to the GIFFORDS’ poll, large majorities of voters…don’t want to see that happen and are opposed to the proposed changes,” the report states. The questions include blatantly false statements about the steps needed to legally obtain firearm suppressors if the new legislation were to be enacted.

Readers should view the Giffords poll with skepticism. It has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese.

Flat-Out Lies

The blatant lie Giffords told survey respondents is a big one and was undoubtedly done to elicit responses they wanted to hear. In Question 4, respondents were asked . . .

If this bill to loosen regulations on gun silencers becomes law, background checks would no longer be required to purchase a gun silencer. Do you think a background check should be required to purchase a gun silencer, or not?

That is not what the House-passed bill does at all.

Background checks on firearm suppressors would not go away. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Under the House-passed version of the bill, if a law-abiding American wants to purchase a firearm suppressor, he or she would still be required to submit a signed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 and be verified as not prohibited through an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System check.

Again, a buyer would still be required to pass an FBI background check, exactly like they must do when purchasing a firearm for which they want their suppressor. Giffords flat out lied to survey respondents.

If that foundational error wasn’t egregious enough, they do more on Question 5.

… But Republicans in Congress… passed a bill to deregulate silencers, making them cheaper and easier for anyone to buy. Having heard this, let me ask you again: do you think making gun silencers more available to the general public is more of a good idea, or more of a bad idea?

Once again, not just “anyone” would be able to purchase a silencer, just as not just “anyone” can legally purchase a firearm.

Only law-abiding Americans who pass a NICS background check will be able to obtain silencers – or suppressors – if the budget reconciliation bill passes the U.S. Senate with the suppressor provision included and is signed into law by President Trump.

Suppressor Ownership Surges

This kind of scare tactic is often used by gun control groups that hope Americans won’t be the wiser. It’s similar to their longstanding push to ban modern sporting rifles. But over the past several years, as NSSF has seen firsthand, millions of Americans did their own homework and recognized an AR-15 and AK47-style rifles were perfect for their needs and purchased one. All told, industry data shows there are over 30 million MSRs in circulation in the U.S. market, making them more common than Ford F-150s on the road today, the most popular selling pickup truck in America.

NSSF has the data on suppressors, too, and it’s a similar story. In recent years, Americans have come to recognize the benefits of utilizing a suppressor and have become educated on what they do…and don’t do.

According to NSSF’s recent 2025 Suppressor Owner Study, between 2020 and 2024, there was a 265 percent surge in annual suppressor registrations, marking a significant increase in the number of suppressors being purchased. As of December 31, 2024, there are more than 4.5 million suppressors registered and an estimated 3.14 million suppressors belong to consumers – a number that has only grown in the past six months as application processing times have dramatically gone down.

In addition to the sheer numbers of suppressors owned by law-abiding Americans, NSSF survey data reveals the proficiency level of the buyer varies widely, including 27 percent who self-describe as “new” or “competent” shooters, with 16 percent as “expert” and 57 percent as “proficient.”

The top three reasons given for purchasing suppressors in this span include “recreational shooting” at 39 percent, “hunting” at 30 percent and “home protection” at nine percent. The firearm used with a purchaser’s suppressor breaks down along similar lines, with MSRs at 37 percent, traditional hunting rifles at 32 percent and handguns at 23 percent.

Legislative Leadership

NSSF has long-supported legislation to make it more efficient for law-abiding Americans to use firearm suppressors when they participate in recreational target shooting, hunting, self-defense, and training. The Hearing Protection Act, introduced in 2025 by U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) would do just that. Firearm suppressors reduce the noise level of unsuppressed firearm reports to a safe hearing level.

Additionally, Giffords’ hysterics about criminals using suppressors doesn’t wash. As suppressors sales to law-abiding Americans have increased significantly in recent years, crimes involving suppressors have not. In fact, they’re negligible.

In a study looking at the criminal misuse of suppressors in California and nation-wide between 1995 and 2005, there were just 153 federal criminal cases involving suppressors, only 15 of which involved the actual use of the suppressor in the commission of a crime. Less than 0.1 percent of homicides in federal court, an infinitesimally low 0.00006 percent of felonies in California and a mere 0.1 percent of armed robberies involved a suppressor. Suppressed firearms are clearly not the choice for criminals.

The scare tactics deployed by Giffords are unsurprising and predictive. Influencing respondents to achieve a desired outcomes in a public opinion poll is unethical. It’s known as a “push poll.” Repeating falsehoods – and flat out lying – about firearms and firearm accessories, like suppressors, is their modus operandi.