“Quite frankly, what is in the reconciliation bill does more to support assassins than it does American families,” said Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern.
There was some laughter in the hall.
“Yeah, well you know what? Talk to law enforcement, talk to people who have been victims of gun violence,” McGovern continued. “I know you think it’s funny, but I don’t.”
Edith Olmsted, “Republicans Sneak Terrifying Gun Law Change Into Trump’s Budget Bill,” The New Republic, May 22, 2025.
More silencers, fewer safeguards. The Trump admin is making gun violence harder to stop—and harder to hear.
Giffords.org on X, May 29, 2025
Gun control proponents claim that “silencers” (i.e., suppressors) on guns make it so that we won’t hear the guns being used. That assassins will be able to murder people without people knowing that a gun had been fired. So we asked Grok 3 how loud various guns are with suppressors sound when they are fired.
— AR-15s or .45 caliber handguns are as quiet as a jackhammer is at close range.
— A 9mm handgun is as quiet as a chainsaw is at close range.
Hey Dr. Lott,
I’m sure you’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but adding a suppressor to any firearm increases its weight and length, thus making it harder to conceal. The primary benefit of a suppressor is that it lessens the annoyance for people in proximity to shooting ranges. Thanks for all of the work you do.
Thank you, Charles. I guess that people can add the suppressor on the gun right before it is use.
If an assassin can’t afford $200, he’s not much of an assassin.
Meanwhile the rest of us have to go deaf because some politician with a guilty conscience has a wild imagination, and doesn’t know a thing about guns.