41 ms·

A suppressor lowers the decibel level of a firearm by about 20-30 dB. It’s anything but silent and there’s nothing illegal, malicious, or unusual for wanting to

by koolba 4y ago

A suppressor lowers the decibel level of a firearm by about 20-30 dB. It’s anything but silent and there’s nothing illegal, malicious, or unusual for wanting to not go deaf in the event you had to fire a weapon in self defense without a chance to wear ear protection.

mrits 4y ago
It's a red flag for further investigation as it is a tool often used by professionals. At least in movies. I stand by my humorous analogy!
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y ago
jorvi 4y ago
Not only that, there's adapters you can buy (or print..) that allow you to screw oil filters onto a pistol or AR. It might sound pretty stupid but it is actually relatively effective.
- oynqr 4y ago
  Pretty sure the ATF doesn't like people doing that
  - coryrc 4y ago
    They require a stamp from the ATF, but are legal with it.
ondrek 4y ago
This may be true for the US, but the whole argument falls apart as soon as you remember the world is wider. Eg in Europe are suppressors often allowed with a special permit only = which, in my country, basically means army use only. There are plenty reasons why. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_firearm_suppressors_in_Europe.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_firearm_...
- jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
  >There are plenty of reasons why And not a single one was provided, curious! It does not make your weapon more lethal, it does not make your weapon cheaper, it does not increase the capacity of your weapon. Sounds like more copium to me.
  - Grimburger 4y ago
    The people in most countries on Earth like to know when a weapon is being fired near them. Wear ear muffs if you are worried about your hearing.
    - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
      Oh believe me, you'll hear it either way!
    - xoa 4y ago
      This is a statement of profound and frustrating ignorance. It's not physically possible even in the best case to use over-the-ear or in-ear protection (even doubled or tripled up) to reduce ~2kHz sound by more than 40dB or so, because that's how much reduction a human skull provides. No matter how blocked off your ears are sound will still be transmitted through flesh/bone. More realistically, even 30 dB of reduction is quite good. And a naked firearm can easily be 160-175 dB at the muzzle, and it's hard to overstate how VERY loud that is. A chainsaw is like 110 dB, and remember this is a log scale. Every 10 dB = 10x the energy (only about 3x the perceived "loudness", but it's energy that matters for cellular damage). Furthermore, firing inside (or next to any large hard surfaces that can reflect sound) can increase the total exposure. A sibling post writes "Firing a gun with no hearing protection is a pretty jarring experience", but let's be clear: ANY exposure to sound over 140 dB or so mean instantaneous permanent hearing loss. Period. "Jarring" isn't quite the adjective. A single use doesn't mean you just go deaf or even "merely" get tinnitus, but it does mean you just burned some of your hearing forever. It doesn't heal and there isn't any treatment. For practice with regular usage even with ear protection it's quite possible to exceed NIOSH limits on sound exposure. Obviously lots of people just live with that, but hearing loss is serious. There is environmental damage and bystanders to consider as well. All of this of course ignores that for self defense at home someone might not have time to put on ear pro at all. The only way to really make guns hearing safe is to double up on multiple physically different methods combining both hearing protection and sound reduction of the gun itself. A suppressor can take a gun down to the 130-150dB range, and then a further 20-30 dB of ear protection takes that to 100-130dB for the shooter. Subsonic ammunition can also be use, sacrificing performance to eliminate the supersonic crack and somewhat reduce sound too. Suppressors should just be standard safety equipment. The Hollywood meme where you screw something onto a rifle and now it sounds like a can of compressed air is as real as people jumping through plate glass windows (actually made of sugar) and other such ridiculous physics. 130dB is still LOUD, you will absolutely here that from a distance. The original impetus in America for trying to make them a thing only for rich people was concerns about "poaching" by poor people and ties into a bunch of class warfare there. It's an obsolete consideration for a host of reasons at this point. The societal benefits of less hearing damage would be considerable, it's now known quite a number of significant issues like dementia can be influenced by hearing loss.
typeofhuman 4y ago
Some states actually require silencers while hunting because of the sound disturbance.

by koolba 4y ago

mrits 4y ago

It's a red flag for further investigation as it is a tool often used by professionals. At least in movies. I stand by my humorous analogy!

YeGoblynQueenne 4y ago

jorvi 4y ago

Not only that, there's adapters you can buy (or print..) that allow you to screw oil filters onto a pistol or AR. It might sound pretty stupid but it is actually relatively effective.

oynqr 4y ago
Pretty sure the ATF doesn't like people doing that
- coryrc 4y ago
  They require a stamp from the ATF, but are legal with it.

ondrek 4y ago

This may be true for the US, but the whole argument falls apart as soon as you remember the world is wider. Eg in Europe are suppressors often allowed with a special permit only = which, in my country, basically means army use only. There are plenty reasons why. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_firearm_suppressors_in_Europe.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_firearm_...

jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
>There are plenty of reasons why And not a single one was provided, curious! It does not make your weapon more lethal, it does not make your weapon cheaper, it does not increase the capacity of your weapon. Sounds like more copium to me.
- Grimburger 4y ago
  The people in most countries on Earth like to know when a weapon is being fired near them. Wear ear muffs if you are worried about your hearing.
  - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
    Oh believe me, you'll hear it either way!
  - xoa 4y ago
    This is a statement of profound and frustrating ignorance. It's not physically possible even in the best case to use over-the-ear or in-ear protection (even doubled or tripled up) to reduce ~2kHz sound by more than 40dB or so, because that's how much reduction a human skull provides. No matter how blocked off your ears are sound will still be transmitted through flesh/bone. More realistically, even 30 dB of reduction is quite good. And a naked firearm can easily be 160-175 dB at the muzzle, and it's hard to overstate how VERY loud that is. A chainsaw is like 110 dB, and remember this is a log scale. Every 10 dB = 10x the energy (only about 3x the perceived "loudness", but it's energy that matters for cellular damage). Furthermore, firing inside (or next to any large hard surfaces that can reflect sound) can increase the total exposure. A sibling post writes "Firing a gun with no hearing protection is a pretty jarring experience", but let's be clear: ANY exposure to sound over 140 dB or so mean instantaneous permanent hearing loss. Period. "Jarring" isn't quite the adjective. A single use doesn't mean you just go deaf or even "merely" get tinnitus, but it does mean you just burned some of your hearing forever. It doesn't heal and there isn't any treatment. For practice with regular usage even with ear protection it's quite possible to exceed NIOSH limits on sound exposure. Obviously lots of people just live with that, but hearing loss is serious. There is environmental damage and bystanders to consider as well. All of this of course ignores that for self defense at home someone might not have time to put on ear pro at all. The only way to really make guns hearing safe is to double up on multiple physically different methods combining both hearing protection and sound reduction of the gun itself. A suppressor can take a gun down to the 130-150dB range, and then a further 20-30 dB of ear protection takes that to 100-130dB for the shooter. Subsonic ammunition can also be use, sacrificing performance to eliminate the supersonic crack and somewhat reduce sound too. Suppressors should just be standard safety equipment. The Hollywood meme where you screw something onto a rifle and now it sounds like a can of compressed air is as real as people jumping through plate glass windows (actually made of sugar) and other such ridiculous physics. 130dB is still LOUD, you will absolutely here that from a distance. The original impetus in America for trying to make them a thing only for rich people was concerns about "poaching" by poor people and ties into a bunch of class warfare there. It's an obsolete consideration for a host of reasons at this point. The societal benefits of less hearing damage would be considerable, it's now known quite a number of significant issues like dementia can be influenced by hearing loss.

typeofhuman 4y ago

Some states actually require silencers while hunting because of the sound disturbance.