In a recent Freedom of Information Act request by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) data shows an explosion in Americans purchasing a firearm suppressor.
NSSF pointed out in the report: "American gun owners are on track to exceed 87 years of registered silencers in just the latest three years."
Here are the numbers:
Today, the ATF is processing suppressor applications in not only record time but in some instances the same day. Long gone is the wait time barrier and it is drawing shooters and hunters to purchase a suppressor who had previously dreaded long wait time to purchase one. As a result, silencer registration metrics are off the chart.
The now discontinued ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States report displayed the number of silencers that were registered in each state. The May 2021 edition reported 2,664,774 silencers in the US, more than doubling the 1.3 million silencers disclosed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017.
In a recent Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), NSSF received from ATF the additional number of silencers from May 2021 to July 2024. An incredible 2,193,123 more suppressors are protecting the hearing of hunters and shooters. That means a whopping 4.86 million silencers and counting are in possession by law-abiding Americans.
The number of suppressors owned by law-abiding Americans has soared in recent years.
The surge in suppressor demand must be great news for SilencerCo, one of the largest firearm suppressor companies in the US.
However, for the overall firearms industry, hard times have been underway since the gun bubble popped in 2021, after multiple years of panic buying by Americans following the crime tsunami sparked by failed progressive "defund the police" policies.
The latest National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) data shows the boom and bust cycle of gun buying. Keep in mind that NICS checks are a proxy for the number of guns sold and are not exact because the background checks are performed on the buyer rather than the gun.
NICS checks are still well above a 20-year trend and seasonally rising into the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the billionaire-funded anti-gun group "Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund" via its "The Smoking Gun" website lost its mind about law-abiding Americans purchasing suppressors.