Gun owners welcome elimination of tax on gun suppressors, expect increased demand

Willis Paul recently bought his 27th gun suppressor.

He said he has collected the accessories for the past five years and, in that time, has shelled out $5,400 in excise taxes.

But after changes to the National Firearms Act in the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect in January, the 67-year-old Penn Hills resident is looking at $200 in savings on his next suppressor.

Though they say it’s a small victory, local gun owners and dealers expect an increase in demand for suppressors as the specter of greater deregulation looms in federal court.

Often referred to as “silencers,” suppressors are devices that attach to the barrel of a gun that lower the decibel level of gunshots, reducing the threat to the hearing of shooters but not making guns silent.

Until recently, Paul said, it took nearly a year to get approval from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to get a suppressor. Once ATF digitized the process, he said, the wait was reduced to a matter of days.

Although he’s happy to see the tax eliminated, Paul worries that a potential increase in demand might spike wait times again.

Though suppressors significantly decrease the sound of a discharged firearm, Paul said he still has to wear hearing protection when he shoots with one.

“It does help reduce the noise. It’s safer,” he said. “Hunting in a place like Allegheny County, it makes you a friendlier hunter.”

Paul said he still supports strict regulations for more destructive weapons such as machine guns but wants to see suppressors and short-barreled rifles taken off the National Firearms Act list entirely.

Bruce Piendl, a partner at Bethel Park’s Allegheny Arms and Gunworks, said some of his customers already have purchased suppressors “on layaway.” That allows them to pay the up-front cost of the weapons now and pick them up as soon as the tax is lifted in January, thereby lowering the overall cost. Suppressors can range in price from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

“Eliminating the tax will make it a lot more viable for people to own suppressors,” Piendl said.

He said the tax change makes sense and the limited noise can help make shooting a “safer environment” by reducing the volume on gunshots and protecting the hearing of shooters.

But with a potential increased demand for the accessories, Piendl said the industry may see a shortage of the parts required to mount suppressors to guns.

Gooch Ionadi, owner of gun and cigar shop Smoke N’ Guns in Oakmont, said he hopes for a decrease in the price of suppressors.

Since President Donald Trump signed the changes into law July 4, Ionadi said, he has been getting a lot of calls about what the change means for gun owners and the availability of suppressors.

He said he’s expecting his suppressor sales to double or triple. But with the other regulations like fingerprinting still being enforced, Ionadi said the process to obtain the accessories will remain difficult.

“It’s all headed in the right direction, which is good,” he said.

It’s that “red tape,” though, that Klint Macro said he’s concerned about.

Macro is a local firearms educator and vice president of Pennsylvania-based Firearm Owners Against Crime’s Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action.

He said the elimination of the tax is a “financial benefit” but believes National Firearms Act restrictions tend to place limits on law-abiding citizens.

Still, Macro said, he’s a believer in incrementalism and thinks the elimination of the tax will benefit some.

“I know quite a bit of people who have suppressors specifically, and I think that they’ll take advantage of the opportunity just from the fact now that it’s cheaper to do so,” he said.