The Growth of Suppressors, The Revolution in Guns

Frank Miniter writes on Forbes.com about suppressors being the quite revolution in guns, with 41 states allowing the use of this firearm accessory:

The ATF recently released data showing a huge rise in the number of silencers registered. The ATF’s data lumps silencers with registrations of “short-barreled shotguns,” “machine guns,” and other NFA-controlled items, but the vast majority of the items registered are silencers. According to the ATF, they processed 41,579 applications in 2005 and the number has gone dramatically up every year since. In 2013 they processed 163,691 applications and in 2014 the ATF processed a total of 236,290 applications.

As populations around shooting ranges grow, suppressors offer an answer to the rise in noise complaints that often come with the influx of new neighbors who should have known they were going to hear the sound of gun shots but nevertheless moved near a range anyway.  Manufacturers are noticing the upward trend and bringing new products to the market.

Add  Maxim 9 from SilencerCo, a 9mm pistol with a built-in suppressor as shown in Forbes article

SilencerCo’s most-talked-about innovation is its Maxim 9, an integrally suppressed 9mm pistol. Yes, the silencer is built in to, not screwed onto, a 9mm pistol. A prototype they’re exhibiting is built partially on a Smith & Wesson body, but the guns SilencerCo says it will have out in 2016 will be completely designed and manufactured by SilencerCo.

Josh Waldron, SilencerCo’s CEO, told me, “To make room for the suppressor we had to reengineer everything. A lot of the internals of the pistol had to be moved back. It’s an innovative design. We are just working out the final details, which is why this won’t be available until 2016.”

When asked if it will be available for January’s Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show), Waldron said that’s their intention. He was careful about giving too many details, but did say, “We wanted to make holstering this pistol an option, so we spent a lot of engineering hours working to keep this pistol’s size similar to full-size pistols on the market. The Maxim 9 will be about 10 percent larger than a Glock 17.”

Miniter was on NRANews' Cam and Company this week to talk more about the article and the trend toward suppressors.