[TennTexan]

Speaking as someone who suffers from tinnitus and some permanent hearing loss, once it's gone it ain't coming back! Why subject your hearing to unnecessary punishment? Shooting without ear pro to "see what it sounds like" may not immediately strike you deaf, but it will undoubtedly damage your hearing. Remember, hearing loss is cumulative!

As far as the argument about how your defensive shooting with a silencer would look in court, any defense attorney worth his retainer fee will be quick to point out that a gunshot produces sound pressure levels that are far above the pain threshold and the limit of what is considered "hearing safe," that being in an enclosed environment like a home only amplifies the danger associated with the gunshot, and that the owner of the silencer was merely making use of a registered, legally possessed item so as to not have to choose between defending his and his family's lives or keeping their eardrums intact. Knowing the dangers associated with firing a gun indoors, how many people on a jury if given the choice between shooting a gun in self defense in their own home with or without a silencer, if one were available to use, would prefer the former?