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According to SilencerCo’s CEO Josh Waldron, Trump’s two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, use SilencerCo products. SilencerCo was an early and vocal endorser of Donald Trump for President. As a result, Mr. Waldron received one of the coveted invitations to Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. From Silencerco’s facebook page:

SilencerCo CEO Josh Waldron is honored to be a part of the momentous occasion of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. SilencerCo’s early and enthusiastic support of the incoming Republican administration is directly related to its ideological alignment with Josh’s and SilencerCo’s pro 2nd Amendment beliefs.

Mr. Waldron was one of the founders of the American Suppressor Association. The ASA sponsors the Hearing Protection Act (HPA), which would remove the onerous, expensive and time-consuming NFA provisions from silencers. Surprisingly, Mr. Waldron indicated that the ATF hasn’t been enthusiastic about fighting this legislation.

The HPA is getting a lot of attention. For several weeks, it has been in the top ten of legislation that is being looked at over the Internet. Does Waldron’s invitation to the Inaugural mean that the HPA will be a priority for the Trump administration?  At the least, we can say that SilencerCo is not being ignored.

The HPA could be a big win for a Trump administration. It’s highly popular legislation with virtually no downside. Watch this space.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

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67 COMMENTS

  1. “Does Waldron’s invitation to the Inaugural mean that the HPA will be a priority for the Trump administration?”

    It means that Donald Jr. and Eric were allowed to invite a few friends, and they’re hoping to get a few free suppressors out of the deal.

    There should be plenty of room at the inauguration, what with the ongoing temper tantrum from the left and a few dozen Democrats with the temperament of two-year-olds “boycotting” the event.

    • Ditto for Illinois.

      Hopefully, that will change. The bill made it through the House but stalled in the Senate last session. It’s already been reintroduced in the new session. Keeping out fingers crossed.

      • If/when the HPA passes it will remove suppressors from being “special” i.e NFA to just another 4473 item, states that ban suppressors now would have a hard argument to make against suppressors if/when they are removed from the NFA.

        • It’s not hard to base an argument entirely on feelings, myths and misinformation when most of your useful idiots gobble up anything you say.

  3. With legislation being filed to eliminate the ATF, they want to make nice nice with anyone they can right now.

  4. An interesting article I would like to see is whether the HPA changes would then mean that in states where suppressors are verboten they would then become legal. Here in Illinois we’re trying to push it through, but it’s gonna be a while yet I think.

    • That’s already been answered; the legislation as it exists says nothing about states. If it’s legal in a state, it’ll stay legal; if it’s illegal in a state it’ll stay illegal. This bill addresses the ATF and basically says that silencers/suppressors/cans are not subject to the NFA. That’s pretty much it.

      I think silencers are legal in 42 states, so it’s up to the residents of the remaining 8 to get their legislatures on board.

    • A suppressor bill that preempted state law would be more difficult to get passed. As it is, Illinois and other fascist states won’t be affected, which means legislators from those states could leverage their vote to bargain for something else they want.

  5. The NRA and 2nd amendment supporters were Trumps biggest supporters and financial donors. If Trump “owes” anyone or group it’s us. And maybe Putin 😉

    • Just food for thought… this website was actively lobbying against Trump for the longest time. Even after after it was clear he was the nominee. I’m not sure he owes this demographic anything. Certainly some of it, but there was a sizable portion that were dragged kicking and screaming to their decision.

      • I didn’t vote for him. Instead I hid behind the voters in my red state who did. Still have mixed feelings but I’m hopeful for the future.

      • That’s because Trump is a complete nut job wild card, face it – he can’t be trusted to support even the 2A.

        Of course the 2A crowd will take what they can get. I know I will.

        And what do you mean that he doesn’t owe anything to this crowd? Are you serious? He represents us all… he owes us everything. He is our elected president for god’s sake.

        Do you subscribe to vindictive politics instead of a representative democracy?

        • What are you, about 2 weeks into Freshman Poly Sci?

          Noob. Trump only owes the NRA for their endorsement. We shall see. What I see are a whole lot of chicken counters around here. I will count only the eggs and hope for the best.

        • The only thing he “owes” us to be the best President he can be, but don’t expect kisses and hugs for being brought kicking and screaming to the alter like half the GOP looking to sabotage their own nominee. I’m not vindictive. I’m a realist.

    • ” And maybe Putin ?”

      I love Putin. Fuck Ukraine, fuck Syria and fuck NATO. More power to Tsar Vladimir and Comrade Donald

      George Washington would be proud

  6. I would like SBRs ans SBSs removed from the NFA also. They can keep MGs as requiring registration, but repeal the Hughes Amendment to FOPA! I can pay $200 for a Tax Stamp, but NOT $15,000+ for a MG. A couple or few $K, I could do if I really wanted one.

    • Come to think about it, that wouldn’t be a terrible trade off. We remove silencers from the registry, and open it back up for post 86’s. What revenue the atf loses from the suppressor paperwork and tax stamp they can regain through the filing of MG’s.

      Believe me, I want the NFA and registry gone as much as anyone else. But from a monetary standpoint, why not pitch it that way? (I know I know, not how it works and they don’t want us to have MG’s, but if they want the tax revenue after HPA…)

    • I agree with you there, as far as the Hughes amendment. There was absolutely NO problem as far as crimes committed with legally owned automatic weapons. I did a paper on the fallacies of gun control for one of my college courses in the early 1990’s. One fact I ran across was that, out of the approximately 65,000 legally owned and registered machine guns in existence at the time my information source was published, only ONE was ever used to commit a violent crime – and that was by a deranged police officer who tried to kill his wife in a drug-related incident!

    • A $5,000 tax for the initial registration of an MG, and $2,500 tax for each subsequent registration on transfer would keep most of the idiots out, and ensure that criminals would get their weapons on the black market where they would be cheaper. Also a huge source of revenue. As I said above, I bet that processing a $200 stamp tax is actually a net loss for the ATF.

      Of course, eventually some deranged teen or twenty-something is going to steal his Dad’s MG and do something awful with it.

      • Really? why would you ever give then an inch, 5K for the first and 2.5K for each one thereafter,. Until I can walk into a gun shop and without Tax, waiting period or any other BS purchase a newly manufactured full-auto, short barreled, suppressed machine-gun with under mounted 203 and live HE rounds for said 203 my/your rights under the Second Amendment are being infringed.

      • Good to know 2a rights are only for the rich. Gosh, I didn’t realize I was an “idiot” for being young and unable to afford 5 grand just to register something I have an unquestionable right to own.

      • Check out this FUDD.

        How about you submit 5k for every gun you buy instead?

        Why should a 5k tax apply to MGs and not your Ar15?

      • There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program. We can’t concede one single thing.

        We gave ground in the past, and paid for it with more insolent attempts at control and restriction.

        How about a $5K tax to voice an opinion, or to exempt you from having troops live in your house, or to secure an impartial jury?

        When we compromise, our opponents are emboldened to demand more, to the point of absurdity. They want control – of everything.

        No more. They need to do ALL the compromising from here forward – we can’t afford, either existentially or financially, to allow them to preempt one more freedom in pursuit of conscripts for their mentally unhinged social experiment.

  7. The only downside of the HPA is that many ill-informed people are going to freak out thinking people will be running around with machine guns quieter than their Red Ryder BB guns from when they were kids.

    • MDA and other freedom haters are already spreading such falsehoods. In the realm of 2A rights, it ultimately comes down to truth vs. fiction, and how many people believe the fiction.

  8. Regardless of what the implications are of CEO of Co being invited, it’s a good sign. The guy above saying his kids are getting free cans? I’m pretty sure they can afford whatever they want. A free $800 silencer isn’t really going to help them at all, and now that dad is Prez, they can have access to a lot more fun stuff to play with.

    In the end, this is a good thing for us on the bottom, and I think this bill is going to move forward and Trump is going to sign this with big fat smile on his face.

  9. No, it simply means that if Congress passed it, he will sign it. Congress probably won’t pass it, so he won’t sign it. DItto for national reciprocity, interstate handgun ban, etc.

    • Unfortunately inter-state reciprocity is a hill the Dems in the Senate WILL die on. I think there’s a chance that the HPA isn’t.

      Also, there’s a real chance that the GOP nukes the remains of the filibuster – not for the HPA, but for something more important (to them) but then the HPA also slides through.

  10. A burning question for me: If suppressors fall off the NFA, will there be an 80% rule?

    (please please please please please please, etc.)

    • Almost positive that it will bump them down to title I items. Title 1 includes pistols, rifles and shotguns that meet their respective minimum length requirements. We are allowed to create our own title 1 arms, so I would assume we can create our own title 1 cans if HPA passes.

    • Even better you won’t even need the 80% non-sense. Just buy the components and assemble it. Silencers are very simple. What are now “solvent traps” will be suppressor kits.

  12. If HPA passes I will be there on day one to buy a suppressor.

    On day two I’ll go out and buy a threaded pistol barrel, probably for a 92FS.

    • You better buy your threaded barrels now. You can bet every swinging dick that has ever bitched about the NFA and has been sitting on the sidelines will be there day 1 ahead of you in line buying every can and accessory in sight. The flood of new entrants into the suppressor market will be Yuge…as the Donald would say. I would expect that if you are not one of the lucky first in line to buy suppressor or accessories you will be waiting a long time (as in YEARS) for manufacturers to catch up with demand. Luckily I got all mine the hard way, so no waiting or frustration for me. The early bird gets the can in this case.

      • Eh, I disagree. The adapters for the oil filter cans can be pumped out by the millions. Hell, I think you’ll see some other companies jump on the band wagon also – If the market takes off, you’ll likely see a lot of low end stuff flood the market.

        The high end companies will have to come down in price, because competition will get crazy.

        • Oil can filter? LOL! I was talking about legitimate quality suppressor availability post HPA boom. The shortage will be real. But, for those that willingly pay for shit products like and oil can filter, I’m sure availability will be there. I’ll be back when the HPA passes to say told ya so.

      • Spot on. On day one suppressors will be scarce quickly but companies will begin to churn out stainless steel versions that have a round count life but will only cost 100 bucks out-the-door. Companies will either offer low end units that last 500 rounds or high end lifetime suppressors or offer a range of both. The true bottleneck will be threaded pistol barrels. The handful of companies wont be ready because they wont make a ton until passage is assured and then supply will go to zero while demand will skyrocket. Better buy them now.

  13. If HPA passes, I can see several consequences. Manufacturers will offer threaded barrels with more firearms. They will also develop firearms with integral suppressors. Outdoor ranges will encourage, if not require, the use of suppressors to cut down on noise pollution which generates hostility from neighbors.

    One thing suppressors won’t do is reduce the boom from supersonic bullets. Having watched a video that compared various combinations of suppressed and unsuppressed firearms and super- and sub-sonic bullets, I was surprised how much the supersonic bullet contributed to the overall noise level.

    • More of a crack than a boom. And worse on the hearing than is apparent.

      But if this passes, expect to see a lot more subsonic offerings – .300 BLK will become more popular, you’ll see more heavy 9mm, and probably even sub-sonic 7.62 commie and others. Unfortunately .223/5.56 sucks in subsonic.

  14. Two quick observations that make me very hopeful of its passage–

    1) It’s not even on the media radar. Trump has promised to go after so many holy grails that this particular one appears to have been crowded out by all the greater evils he’s threatening them with. I can’t tell you how yuge this is.

    2) Suppressor companies are really pushing the ‘BUY NOW DON’T WAIT IT’S NOT CERTAIN!’ angle… Which they wouldn’t be doing if they weren’t scared that this thing actually had a decent chance of passing. Think about every attempt to float this bill before now and ask if you saw the push to sell you’re seeing now. Simply put, it didn’t exist because they knew there wasn’t a snowflake chance in hell. The market predicts more than you think, folks.

    Bonus round!

    3) As people have already mentioned, various government agencies are completely silent about it if only to save their own necks. The lack of active resistance substantially improves the odds of this bill’s passage.

    • Further, hit ’em irrefutable *facts*.

      They are over-the-counter sold in many places in Europe.

      It’s considered polite to use them outdoors, in some places it’s mandatory.

      Point out that in the past 25 years in the USA the ‘Rivers of Blood’ predicted by the antis when concealed carry became law, ‘gun violence’ dropped about 50 percent…

      • Plus, the left is always pining for the US to be like Europe….well here’s the chance to do it.

  15. This is a fantastic baby step, but ultimately suppressors need to drop to the same level of regulation as replacement sling swivels. Follow up with dropping SBR & SBS entirely from regulation. Drop the long gun OAL rule. Pitch 922r. Eradicate forever the “sporting purposes” test, since the Second Amendment is about removing dictators and tyrants from power, not killing your food. It’s not enough to delete the ATF and transfer responsibility to FBI, we actually need to crush federal regulation of all things gun. Beyond making sure guns function as they are supposed to, and ensuring owners can travel wherever they please with them, the fed should go pound sand.

  17. I’ve been a recreational shooter all my life,I’m 61yrs old.I’ve worn some type of hearing protection all those years while shooting but I now have 80% hearing loss.I would wear my hearing protection even with the suppressor on my weapon.My hearing aids cost me $3000.00 and they were not top of the line.I’d sure like to see the hearing protection act pass. My hearing is mostly gone but I would not like to see anyone else suffer the loss if they could just suppress the noise at less expense and less red tape then now.

  18. I would LOVE for the HPA to be a priority and have it passed in the first week of the Trump admin, but given the astounding number of laws, amendments, bills and other government duties, I would be very surprised if this has any movement other than it just being resubmitted for consideration (which it has been) in the first year of Trump.

    Unless of course one of the Trumps take a very active roll in getting it passed.

  19. Yes the ATF will fight it tooth, nail and claw only this time they are right to fight it.

    Propaganda even John Q. Public who never owned a gun will not fall for. This is the last thing American Gun owners need, a new banner the anti-gunners will fly and this time at least they will be 100 per cent right. Its an idiotic idea right from beginning to end.

    The idea of being able to buy a silencer right over the counter is about the most jack ass idea that has come down the pike in a long, long time. In only a matter of days every street punk and nut case around will be using them to rob places and commit murders and in some cases making it way more likely the nut case will be able to kill 10 times as many people in a mass murder scene because the nose will be so much less.

    The current restriction on silencers should stand. By veting a person thoroughly and requiring that the silencer must always go through paper work and background checks when resold has worked and kept them from being used wholesale by the street punks and nut cases. And yes the old law has already been updated by preventing anti-gun Police Chiefs from preventing people from getting them just because they did not want anyone in their jurisdiction from having one even when they passed the background check. So with that taken care of there is no reason to start selling them over the counter that would let “used” silencers get resold to anyone.

    With modern hearing protection there is no need for silencers. And it encourages Jethro to start shooting in his back yard because of the lower noise level which would result in many stray shots killing innocent people. Shooting should only be done on an approved safe range not ones back yard.

    As you cans see every argument for selling them over the counter is pure baloney put out by the silencer industry so they can make more money fast. Anyway the chance of this idiotic law passing is about as good as a snowball not melting in hell. I think even the Republicans are not dumb enough to want to get blamed for every gang in Chicago now having them if they change the law.

    • Aaaaannnndd the inevitable liberal gun-hating big government loving troll shows up. What a dumbass. Suppressors are so easy to improvise (and the information about how to so so is so readily available) that if criminal use of them was really a problem, they would be much more common.

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