Use of Firearm Suppressors

To:  Washington State Legislators

Dear Senators and Representatives,

I am a hunter and shooting-sports enthusiast. I would like you to support legislation, such as bill SB 5167 - 2005-06 sponsored by Senator Hargrove in 2006 to simply decriminalize the use of firearm sound suppression devices that are already legally owned.

You may or may not know that these devices are often called by the misnomer "silencer" when they in fact do nothing of the sort. They simply bring the sound level of a shot fired down from one that is highly ear damaging to one that is still very loud but below levels that cause severer ear/hearing damage.

I also know that in Europe, use of firearm sound suppressors is considered good manners, as it decreases the environmental and social impact of firearm noise.

In Finland, for example, they determined that legalization of firearm sound suppressors did not encourage criminal activity of any kind, and is very beneficial to sportsmen, the police, and anyone within earshot of a gun blast. They specifically found that use of firearm sound suppressors does not encourage poaching because the sound suppressor cannot do anything to mitigate the sonic crack of a hunting bullet traveling faster than the speed of sound (which all big-game hunting rifle bullets do).

I encourage you to please examine this issue, and to act on future legislation. This is not a gun-control issue, but a health and environment issue.

I thank you for your consideration as a current and future constituent.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Use of Firearm Suppressors Petition to Washington State Legislators was created by and written by Erin Hively (ehively@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.