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revenger

what is a "suppressor"

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I have been trying to figure out what is a suppressor considered under NJ law,                 "“firearms silencer” means any instrument, attachment, weapon or appliance for causing the firing of any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm to be silent, or intended to lessen or muffle the noise of the firing of any gun, revolver, pistol or other firearm."    If a gun is suppressed from the factory or there is a  technology that can lessen the report and it is incorporated into the manufacturing  of a firearm  just what exactly is the "starting point" for measuring the sound level?   are there specific measurable levels that it must comply with

for example a .22lr barrel that is 22-24 inches long yet only 16" is rifled and the last 6-8 inches has a bore of say 3/4"  all made out of the same piece of steel , perhaps with some holes for compensating , that would reduce the noise slightly yet is not an attachment.   

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Would that not just be part of the "weapon" then? And with the intent of reducing noise, too.

Pretty much as I see it, as soon as you are adding anything that could have any noise reduction, you are on thin ice. The GSG5 was recalled because the mock suppressor was found to reduce sound by a dB or two (federal, not NJ). Even if one could argue it was a compensator (for all the recoil of those .22s), if it did make it quieter, you run into federal and state laws that could screw you.

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I think what I was trying to say was if technology or engineering becomes available that reduces the report would that be considered a suppressor,   What law other than the laws of physics says a gun needs to be loud.  

technology advancements have given us the stun gun and I dont believe that has much sound, should the industry be forced to add a blank cartridge firing mechanism to it,   If .22lr ammo can be produced that has a minimum report or firearm technology advances to the point of being able to minimize its report is that gun now silenced or is it the normal noise it makes.

 

I have been thinking of this because of the attacks on shooting at outdoor ranges and the noise complaints that gets these ranges shut down,   If technology existed to build a low report gun that would shut them up.       

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@PK90 thanks, did not know that. When I got mine, I read original ones had a tiny amount of sound dampening and that was why. I read it on the internets, so it must be true, right?

 

@revenger  I totally agree that it would be great if firearms could be quieter for everyone. However, I believe anything on the gun itself modifying the sound level is the problem, as no individual or manufacturer wants to deal with the whole going to jail for violating NFA laws. I am sure that the laws are intentionally broad and vague for a reason.

I shoot a lot of subsonic .22s, and volume of those is noticably quieter than standard .22s. I have never fired a 147gr 9mm, but my understanding is it would be quieter. I don't think I have ever fired a supersonic .45, subsonics don't seem too quiet, but maybe they are by comparison.

Until HPA is passed/NFA repealed, and/or states like NJ are bitchslapped by courts, I feel like we will be hampered on development of quieter gun technologies. Because legislators get all their gun knowledge from Hollywood, and a gun becomes absolutely silent when using a suppressor, and we are all already deadly killers just waiting to go on sprees with silent fully semi automatic assault rifles with shoulder things that go up.

I like that suppressors are required (?, read on internet) in some parts of the world so there is less noise to disturb others or harm the shooter's hearing. I wish NJ and the US were so progressive (well, strongly suggested instead of required).

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This might not help answer your question...

During Vietnam the tunnel rats were issued suppressed weapons of varying types. It was a challenge to suppress a revolver. One type was a .38 special round with an integral piston that captured the expanded gases. The ATF declared each one of these captured piston rounds to be a suppressor.

Source: http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2423

I am not a lawyer. It's probably safe to say that if the ATF considers a device a suppressor, so too would NJ. But, like seemingly all firearm laws in NJ, there is plenty of vagueness in the language. "Any weapon for causing the firing of any firearm to be silent." Right.

I don't think the clear line we'd all love to see is here, but I think a key word is "lessen". If you were to do some freebore magic that cut off half a dB at the range, realistically nobody would notice and you'd get away with it... but if you've got negative attention from LE and someone wants you jammed up badly enough, an empirical measurement of reduced sound when compared to-- whatever the investigators choose-- would probably do the trick.

Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like most of the other laws. When was the last time your magazines' capacity was inspected? But if you've already got the contents of your parts box locked in evidence, you can bet someone's going to try to jam 11 rounds into your "10 rounders".

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