Just days after Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) pulled the Hearing Protection Act — thereby preventing a floor vote on suppressor deregulation — the Spokane Police announced they would add suppressors to police rifles to protect officers’ hearing.
On October 11, the NRA tweeted:
Spokane Police will add suppressors to rifles, citing concerns about hearing damage #suppressors
https://t.co/iyc7zhgI4R pic.twitter.com/L5BXHELBaW— NRA (@NRA) October 11, 2017
The Spokesman-Review published an article on the decision to put suppressors on police rifles and quoted police department range master Lt. Rob Boothe saying, “It’s nothing more than like the muffler you put on your car.” He called suppressors “an OSHA-approved noise reduction device.”
This is a point Breitbart News has made again and again: namely, that suppressors do not silence firearms. Rather, they muffle the initial, otherwise ear-damaging sound wave emitted from the end of the barrel when a round is fired. The gunshot is still audible with a suppressor, but it safer on the unprotected ear.
On October 2 — the day after the Vegas attack — Hillary Clinton promulgated the left’s misinformation campaign on suppressors, intimating that the devices silence gunfire and would have allowed the Vegas attacker to fire without detection, thereby harming more people:
The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots.
Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2017
Although Hillary’s tweet is proof that she does not understand firearms, suppressors, or the tactical advantages the attacker enjoyed via his perch on the 32nd story. Nevertheless, the very next day, Hillary’s tweet was followed by news that Speaker Ryan shelved the Hearing Protection Act, which was ready for a floor vote.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says NRA-backed bill to ease regulations on gun silencers is shelved indefinitely https://t.co/hfDb8elAl6 pic.twitter.com/zsdMo3OOEM
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) October 3, 2017
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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