State Senator William Haine (D-Alton) is sponsoring legislation that would legalize the use of firearm suppressors in the state of Illinois.
According to the Associated Press, Haine suggests the hearing benefits are too obvious to overlook and believes suppressors deliver such benefits without adding to gun crime stats.
The State Journal-Register quoted Haine saying, “It’s the nature of a public health concern, for hunters and sportsmen. It saves them from significant hearing loss for people who use firearms for sports.” He also countered many leftist claims that a suppressor eliminates sound completely, saying, “It’s not a silencer, it’s a suppressor. There still would be noise, but it’s reduced, so it wouldn’t damage the user’s hearing nearly as much.”
When asked why hunters can’t just wear hearing protection to solve the noise problem, Haine said hearing protection is “cumbersome” and also keeps the hunter from “hearing…the game or hearing other hunters, which can be dangerous.”
Suppressors are already legal in 42 states but Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence’s Colleen Daley opposes legalizing them in Illinois. She claims hunters who used them would still have “to wear hearing protection,” but in reality suppressors reduce the sound of gunfire to a level that would not require additional hearing protection to be worn.
It is interesting to note that U.S. Representatives Jeff Duncan (R-SC-3) and John Carter (R-TX-31) introduced the Hearing Protection Act at the federal level on January 9. Their bill removes suppressors from the auspices of the 1934 National Firearms Act, making them easier to acquire so hunters and shooters can more readily protect their own hearing and the hearing of those around them.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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