Tell Congress: Reject Legislation that Would Deregulate Gun Silencers

From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):

Last Sunday in Plano, Texas, a man fatally shot eight people at his estranged wife’s Dallas Cowboys watch party, including his wife. He was stopped after a police officer arriving on the scene heard gunfire, was confronted by the gunman, and shot him.[1]

Two days later, the NRA got one step closer to realizing its wish to disguise the sound of gunfire. On Tuesday, the Republicans in Congress moved forward the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act, which would specifically deregulate silencers among a host of other alarming provisions for weakening federal gun laws.[2] This is a very bad bill.

Don’t let the NRA get its wish. 

Tell Congress to reject any legislation that would deregulate silencers at http://action.momsrising.org/sign/NODeregSilencers3/.

The SHARE Act includes one of the NRA’s top legislative priorities, the laughably named the Hearing Protection Act, which would remove silencers from the National Firearms Act (NFA) that was enacted by Congress in 1934 to fight organized crime.[3] But make no mistake, deregulating silencers has little to do with protecting hearing and a lot to do with lifting profits: Silencers are the fastest growing segment of the shooting market.[4] Deregulation would help sales soar, because buyers – including the dangerously mentally ill, domestic abusers, and people with violent records – would no longer need to go through a months-long waiting period and would no longer need to be registered.

Silencers were not designed to protect hearing, but to disguise the sound of gunfire. If they become readily available and widely used, gunfire would become much harder to identify, thereby impeding law enforcement’s ability to swiftly respond to dangerous shootings and further endangering the public. Major law enforcement groups oppose the deregulation of silencers, including the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, and the Police Foundation.[5]

Sign on now and tell Congress to reject any legislation that would deregulate silencers, including the Hearing Protection Act and the SHARE Act.  *When you click you’ll instantly sign if we have all the required information

Please forward this email to your friends, family and anyone else in your personal network who also believes that Americans should be free to live their lives free from gun violence.

[1] “Plano, Texas shooting victims ID’d as mom of gunman’s slain ex-wife speaks out,” www.cbsnews.com, Sept. 13, 2017.

[2] “The NRA’s idea of recreation: Assault rifles, armor-piercing bullets and silencers,” The Washington Post, Sept. 11, 2017.

[3] “National Firearms Act,” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

[4] “Commentary: The NRA’s gun market crisis,” Chicago Tribune, Mar. 21, 2017.

[5] STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JIM JOHNSON ON H.R. 367 AND S.59, THE HEARING PROTECTION ACT OF 2017, National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, Mar. 10, 2017.

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