SHUSH Act Takes on Suppressor Issues

Utah and Idaho lawmakers are taking on the issue of gun suppressors head on. Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee and Idaho Republican Senator Mike Crapo along with Republican Iowa Representative Steve King have proposed legislation that would regulate suppressors as over-the-counter firearms accessories.

What is currently required is that suppressors are transferred through federal firearms licensees after a background check. The act they are sponsoring is called The Silencers Helping Us Save Hearing (SHUSH) Act—S.1505 in the Senate and HR 3139 in the House. SHUSH would remove suppressors from National Firearms Act requirements.

Similar billes like HR 367, The Hearing Protection Act, has 154 co-sponsors but has not moved anywhere past its being on the desk of the members of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations since February. HR 367, though, would still regulate suppressors with a background check as if they were a firearm and not an accessory. The National Firearms Act of 1934 considers suppressors to be in the same class as machine guns. Suppressor buyers must pay a $200 fee (transfer tax) and register to own one. The SHUSH Act would also remove the $200 fee.