Surprise (not) The St Louis Post Dispatch Opposes Suppressor Manufacturing in MO

[Jeff White]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...4D639FEA49664417862574410083038C?OpenDocument
From today's Post Dispatch:

Silencers: Good for business

05/07/2008

Speaking of bad bills, if ever there were a candidate for a quiet killing, it's Senate Bill 1172. It legalizes the manufacture of silencers for firearms.

Yup, silencers — those suppressors that screw into the barrel of a weapon to muffle the noise of the gunshot. They're good for business.

Or at least they would be good for business if they were legal. Under current Missouri law, it's not legal to import, make, repair or sell silencers. But that would change if state Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, gets his way.

SB 1172 was intended to add certain explosives to the list of weapons for which it is illegal for convicted felons, habitual drunks or mentally incompetent people to possess. Sounds like a good idea. But Mr. Stouffer amended it to allow federally licensed firearms dealers to make silencers in Missouri. The bill has been approved by the Senate and is moving quickly toward approval in the House.


Mr. Stouffer made the changes at the behest of a company in his district, Central Missouri Machine Guns of Fayette. CMMG makes and sells military-style semi-automatic weapons. You can also rent a fully automatic weapon and blaze away at CMMG's range. Mr. Stouffer said the company, which employs 22 people, would be able to hire another eight if it could make silencers.

That seems far-fetched, considering that the law would allow only licensed dealers and collectors to possess silencers. But Mr. Stouffer said the real goal is to allow Missouri weapons manufacturers to bid on federal contracts. They currently have to partner with companies in other states where silencer manufacturing is allowed.

Making silencers is a business that carries some moral baggage. Not everyone is comfortable encouraging production of devices to enable the covert killing of human beings; fewer still would see it as a key to economic development.

But Mr. Stouffer is quick to explain that there's more to silencers than mafia hits and assassinations. "The Conservation Department would like to have this for going after feral hogs," he said. Serves them right for squealing.

I guess no one ever told the Post Dispatch Editorial Board about the Global War on Terror They probably think the military shouldn't use them either....

Jeff

 

[TexasRifleman]

Not everyone is comfortable encouraging production of devices to enable the covert killing of human beings

You mean there is a law against manufacturing knives in Missouri? Or Rope? Or rat poison? Or Duct Tape?

 

[Soybomb]

You know I don't often see a news article thats both filled with emotional hysteria but also disproves itself with solid facts in the same article. It manages to do it repeatedly though.

 

[Standing Wolf]

If it's legal to muffle cars, I see no reason it shouldn't be legal to muffle guns: loud noise is loud noise is loud noise.

 

[bogie]

Did you notice yesterday's article in sound damage in the Symphony?

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As a veteran with hearing damage, I have a hard time understanding how an upstanding newspaper like the Post-Dispatch can oppose research and development in suppressed weapons technology.

Soldiers can't wear earmuffs and earplugs. They have to hear what is going on around them.And every time they fire their high-powered rifles and machineguns, their ears are damaged.

To the same degree, or worse than, the damage described in Sarah Miller's excellent story on hearing damage among the members of our Symphony.

Irreparably and cumulatively.

Firearm sound suppressors have been regulated in the United States since 1934, and Hollywood notwithstanding, are relatively rare. Civilian manufacture (in many states) or purchase requires a significant local and federal background check.

There is extensive regulation in the industry - more so than in many others. So much so that the technology has not been greatly improved since the 1930s. It is time to allow innovative Missourians to develop the tools which will help save our soldiers' hearing.

They are not instruments of crime. They are instruments of safety.

 

[bogie]

Heh, heh...

Just got a note from the gatekeeperdrone...

She nicely told me that they were probably going to print it on Sunday or Monday.

And what have you done today?

Off to the store now, where I get to buy a few packages of nuts.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

They left out another important "fact", that "silencers" reduce the sound of ANY gun to whisper-level.

Making silencers is a business that carries some moral baggage. Not everyone is comfortable encouraging production of devices to enable the covert killing of human beings

This is the same type of person that believes "the only purpose of guns is to kill people". I almost feel bad for people who's ignorance on the subject is made public. If your only experience with something comes from Hollywood don't display it openly! Oh well. I suppose you could just go watch Maximum Overdrive then write an article tomorrow on the trucking industry.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Good work, Bogie!

 

[Gunnerpalace]

covert killing of human beings

The last time a legally owned suppressor was used in a homicide was in 1974 I believe (the doctor with the MAC-10).

 

[doc2rn]

Niiiice Bogie, you should have thrown in the BFA regs or taxes to own also.

 

[XD_fan]

Funny how European countries require suppressors on hunting rifles.

Even as a kid that loud echoing report always bothered me. Made me feel like I was intruding on people who could hear it. I shoot on my brothers place a lot and his neighbor doesn't care for the noise. It would be so much nicer to do my shooting quietly and not disturb the neighbor, or at least, not as much. Like fences, suppressors make for good neighbors.

 

[El Tejon]

Not everyone is comfortable encouraging production of devices to enable the covert killing of human beings; fewer still would see it as a key to economic development.

Good grief, the morons in The Media have to stop watching movies. So, "covert killing" upsets them, but open killing does not upset The Fourth Estate? Are hammers illegal in Missouri?

Suppressors are a public health issue. We need to move suppressors to Title I with federal preemption.

 

[Sage of Seattle]

So a business which is in business selling firearms, is encouraging the growth and stimulation of the local and state economy, mainly by increasing this businesses' workforce significantly AND by wishing to obtain a government contract and all this is a bad thing?

I swear to God, if an object is even REMOTELY gun-related, it's suddenly an Evil Thing Which Must Be Stopped!

Suppressor
"Whisperer of death"

Class III firearm
"Juggernaut of Doom with the potential to mow innocent civillians down like stalks of wheat"

Any handgun
"Portable machine of terror which is entirely unneccessary"

CWP
"License to kill"

Pro-carry legislation
"laws that allow you to legally kill your neighbors while simultaneously trampling everyone else's right to feel safe"

Do I have the patter down right?

 

[Technosavant]

Are hammers illegal in Missouri?

No, but we do try to keep them away from the Post-Disgrace's editorial board. Those folks tend to be rather unbalanced.

 

[bogie]

you should have thrown in the BFA regs or taxes to own also.

Nope - That would have meant at least one, maybe two more sentences, and I was pushing my limit as it was. We'll see how they hack'n'slash for the editing when they print it.

We'll put my original next to the final version for the online editorial writing workshop - cool?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Don't forget to download the version they print and compare it to what you sent. Newspaper editors are frustrated writers who also seem to think they know more about the subject you write about than you do, and they will re-write.

 

[bogie]

Well, I used to play editor from time to time. I know how they think.

 

[bogie]

Had another thought on the subject...

The "tighter" you write something, the less they can screw with it.

Don't use a long word when a short one will do. Stick to simple sentences. Don't try to prove your intelligence with your writing skills - write the stuff so that someone with a sixth grade education can understand it. That is actually a fairly difficult thing to do at times.

 

[Cougfan2]

Funny how European countries require suppressors on hunting rifles.

BINGO!

 

[Deavis]

supressed weapons are hardly quiet anyhow. I'm not sure how my moral baggage is arranged right now, I'll check in the safe when I get home and make sure it is still doing okay. to think I could become a silent assassin at any moment, overwhelmed with the need to be a hitman. Whew, dangerous things, those suppresors. I just thought it was nice to shoot without huge cans over my ears.

 

[Sage of Seattle]

I'll check in the safe when I get home and make sure it is still doing okay. to think I could become a silent assassin at any moment, overwhelmed with the need to be a hitman. Whew, dangerous things, those suppresors.

You didn't think that the word "supressor" referred to sound, did you? These things actually supress your morality.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Silencers are not the only threat.

"Gumshoes" or "sneakers" are another thing that needs to be banned, or at least limited to licensed private detectives. What honest person needs rubber-soled footwear that allows him or her to "gumshoe" or sneak about unheard? It should be mandatory that shoes have leather soles and hard heels that clack loudly when people walk in them.

 

[Waitone]

"suppressed" does not equal "silent"

 

[papajohn]

I've lived in Missouri and Illinois all my life, and just when I think one state is setting new standards for stoopid, the other one comes up with something new. I moved back to Missouri when they enacted CC legislation, and the only reason that ever happened is because the Governor ram-rodded it through. (God Love Him.) Most of the people and lawmakers in this state are of sound mind, but in St Louis (where I live) and Kansas City, the Liberals have taken over, and are doing their best to brainwash the public into being sheeple. The Post-Disgrace has been bleating like this for the forty years I've been reading it, it never gets any smarter or more logical. Who wants to deal with logic and reason (or legitimate facts) when you can use fearmongering and distortions to make the sheep run in the right direction?

I still think we need to hire an elite bunch of muggers to persuade the Liberals of the error of their ways..................

Papajohn