Q. Are Paintball and/or Airgun Sound Suppressers legal?

dZ · August 26, 2001, 01:08 AM

http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#a9

(A9) Q. Are Paintball and/or Airgun Sound Suppressers legal? [Back]

A. §921(a)(24) The terms "firearm silencer" and "firearm muffler" mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any
combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in
such assembly or fabrication.

Numerous paintball silencers tested by the Firearms Technology Branch have been determined to be, by nature of their design and function, firearm silencers as defined in
18 U.S.C., Section 921(a)(24). An individual wishing to manufacturer a firearm silencer must receive prior approval from ATF by submitting an ATF Form 1 and paying a $200
making tax.

If I have any further questions as to this classification, who should I contact?

Please send a written request to our Firearms Technology Branch at the following address:

Bureau of ATF
Firearms Technology Branch
650 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Room 6450
Washington, DC 20226

Jeff OTMG · August 26, 2001, 06:41 AM

Does that mean that the motorcycle mufflers, especially slip ons, are now qualified as 'firearms silencers'? They function as such so they must be. Some lawn mower mufflers work well also. A 2 or 3 liter soda bottle will work, though poorly, when attached with duct tape. Improved performance when packed with pink fiberglass insulation leaving a path for the bullet. Sounds like some bureaucrat needed something to do and spent a week making a decision without thinking it out.

Dangus · August 26, 2001, 07:06 AM

Well if I put a silencer on my paintball gun they better have a good judge lined up, cause that crap likely wouldn't go very far in court. This is yet another reason the ATF must be abolished. It was started in the name of BS, and now it must be dismanted. It is a pointless money vacuum that has murdered at least 80 people and ruined the lives of countless other good people.

August 26, 2001, 07:49 AM

I remember reading about supressers and airguns somewhere. I guess the reason they are concerned with supressors on airguns and paint guns is because if it is a detatchable model, it may be easily attatched to a conventional firearm.

dZ · August 26, 2001, 09:32 AM

anything that uses the duct tape method of attachment is easily attached to a firearm

dZ · August 27, 2001, 12:14 AM

Paintgun Silencers
http://www.corin.com/bill/paintball/silencer.html

I've long been interested in building an effective paintgun silencer, to help one play the sport stelthily, sneaking and sniping, rather than crashing across the field spraying out a case of paint pellets on the run.
There is a problem with making silencers for paintguns though. If they also function as silencers for real guns, they are illegal. In the past, commercial paintgun silencers were tested but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, deemed to be firearms silencers, and sbsequently pulled off of the market.
Last fall I got to thinking of "some sort of device" to quiet a paingun that couldn't simply pulled off the paintgun and attatched to a firearm. I came up with a rather simple solution. Build a casing and dampening material, rather like a traditional silencer, but instead of mounting it on a ventilated tube that sticks out past the muzzle, mount it on a paintgun barrel that is vented, like the Smart Parts brand barrels. If you took it off and put it on a rifle, it wouldn't do any good, because it needs the vents in the barrel in order to function. I called my local BATF office and spoke to an agent. While my idea made sense to him, he wasn't in a position to make any judgements or legal interpretations. He was quite helpful, telling me about enforcement policies regarding silencer classification, and who to write to for clarification on the issue.
So, I cranked out a letter to Edward Owen, the chief of the BATF technology branch. Click here to read my first letter.
After sending off that letter, a silencer discussion resurfaced in the newsgroup rec.sport.paintball. It seems that Barrels Of America was producing a product called "The Concealer". A vented BOA barrel with a sleeve that fit over it dampening the report and concealing the vapor cloud that often forms when a paintgun is fired. Since the sleeve by itself wouldn't quiet a firearm (the barrel needs to be vented) it shouldn't be classified as a silencer. It was said in r.s.p. that this design had been approved by the BATF. Well, I called BOA asking about it and they said it was legal, because it wouldn't work on a firearm, but they hadn't sent it in for approval.
Ealry 1995, I get a letter from the BATF. Click here to read it. It seems that my idea might very well be considered a silencer, and must be tested.
I gave it some more thought, and changed my idea a bit more, so that the only "silencing devices" not permanently attatched to the barrel are a piece of pipe, and some toilet paper. I shot off another letter to the BATF [Click here to read it] asking them about questions that had arisen in my head since the first letter.
Click here to read some of the responses to this whole bruhaha, which have surfaced in the rec.sport.paintball newsgroup.
The BATF replied with this letter. So can you believe it? I need to pay a $200 making tax, just to legally send them a 6" piece of PVC pipe, and a wad of toilet paper, to even find out if they are legal to posess. Wow. I am a bit concerned that Chief Owen did not address my rather direct question of wether or not it is legal to suppress a paintgun, so long as the paintgun suppressor is not considered a suppressor for real firearms. This disturbs me in that here we have an executive branch of our government which is making it's own interpretations of the law, and acting upon them, but not letting the public know what those interpretations are. IMHO, governing our country with "secret laws" is a very dangerous concept, and antithetical to what the framers of the constitution had in mind when they penned its first ten amendments.

MatthewM · August 27, 2001, 01:30 AM

Use an indelible marker and write "for paintball use only" on your device. That should do it.

August 27, 2001, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Use an indelible marker and write "for paintball use only" on your device. That should do it.

That reminds me of the magic marker you get with Birdman's Jaded 50 so you can put a serial number on it and make it legal.

August 26, 2001, 01:08 AM	#1
dZ Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548	Q. Are Paintball and/or Airgun Sound Suppressers legal? http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#a9 (A9) Q. Are Paintball and/or Airgun Sound Suppressers legal? [Back] A. §921(a)(24) The terms "firearm silencer" and "firearm muffler" mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication. Numerous paintball silencers tested by the Firearms Technology Branch have been determined to be, by nature of their design and function, firearm silencers as defined in 18 U.S.C., Section 921(a)(24). An individual wishing to manufacturer a firearm silencer must receive prior approval from ATF by submitting an ATF Form 1 and paying a $200 making tax. If I have any further questions as to this classification, who should I contact? Please send a written request to our Firearms Technology Branch at the following address: Bureau of ATF Firearms Technology Branch 650 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Room 6450 Washington, DC 20226

August 26, 2001, 06:41 AM	#2
Jeff OTMG Senior Member Join Date: October 16, 1998 Location: OKC, OK & Austin, Tx Posts: 3,707	Does that mean that the motorcycle mufflers, especially slip ons, are now qualified as 'firearms silencers'? They function as such so they must be. Some lawn mower mufflers work well also. A 2 or 3 liter soda bottle will work, though poorly, when attached with duct tape. Improved performance when packed with pink fiberglass insulation leaving a path for the bullet. Sounds like some bureaucrat needed something to do and spent a week making a decision without thinking it out.

August 26, 2001, 07:06 AM	#3
Dangus Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2000 Location: IA Posts: 1,907	Well if I put a silencer on my paintball gun they better have a good judge lined up, cause that crap likely wouldn't go very far in court. This is yet another reason the ATF must be abolished. It was started in the name of BS, and now it must be dismanted. It is a pointless money vacuum that has murdered at least 80 people and ruined the lives of countless other good people.

August 26, 2001, 07:49 AM	#4
PreserveFreedom Guest Posts: n/a	I remember reading about supressers and airguns somewhere. I guess the reason they are concerned with supressors on airguns and paint guns is because if it is a detatchable model, it may be easily attatched to a conventional firearm.

August 26, 2001, 09:32 AM	#5
dZ Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548	anything that uses the duct tape method of attachment is easily attached to a firearm

August 27, 2001, 12:14 AM	#6
dZ Senior Member Join Date: June 1, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548	Paintgun Silencers http://www.corin.com/bill/paintball/silencer.html I've long been interested in building an effective paintgun silencer, to help one play the sport stelthily, sneaking and sniping, rather than crashing across the field spraying out a case of paint pellets on the run. There is a problem with making silencers for paintguns though. If they also function as silencers for real guns, they are illegal. In the past, commercial paintgun silencers were tested but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, deemed to be firearms silencers, and sbsequently pulled off of the market. Last fall I got to thinking of "some sort of device" to quiet a paingun that couldn't simply pulled off the paintgun and attatched to a firearm. I came up with a rather simple solution. Build a casing and dampening material, rather like a traditional silencer, but instead of mounting it on a ventilated tube that sticks out past the muzzle, mount it on a paintgun barrel that is vented, like the Smart Parts brand barrels. If you took it off and put it on a rifle, it wouldn't do any good, because it needs the vents in the barrel in order to function. I called my local BATF office and spoke to an agent. While my idea made sense to him, he wasn't in a position to make any judgements or legal interpretations. He was quite helpful, telling me about enforcement policies regarding silencer classification, and who to write to for clarification on the issue. So, I cranked out a letter to Edward Owen, the chief of the BATF technology branch. Click here to read my first letter. After sending off that letter, a silencer discussion resurfaced in the newsgroup rec.sport.paintball. It seems that Barrels Of America was producing a product called "The Concealer". A vented BOA barrel with a sleeve that fit over it dampening the report and concealing the vapor cloud that often forms when a paintgun is fired. Since the sleeve by itself wouldn't quiet a firearm (the barrel needs to be vented) it shouldn't be classified as a silencer. It was said in r.s.p. that this design had been approved by the BATF. Well, I called BOA asking about it and they said it was legal, because it wouldn't work on a firearm, but they hadn't sent it in for approval. Ealry 1995, I get a letter from the BATF. Click here to read it. It seems that my idea might very well be considered a silencer, and must be tested. I gave it some more thought, and changed my idea a bit more, so that the only "silencing devices" not permanently attatched to the barrel are a piece of pipe, and some toilet paper. I shot off another letter to the BATF [Click here to read it] asking them about questions that had arisen in my head since the first letter. Click here to read some of the responses to this whole bruhaha, which have surfaced in the rec.sport.paintball newsgroup. The BATF replied with this letter. So can you believe it? I need to pay a $200 making tax, just to legally send them a 6" piece of PVC pipe, and a wad of toilet paper, to even find out if they are legal to posess. Wow. I am a bit concerned that Chief Owen did not address my rather direct question of wether or not it is legal to suppress a paintgun, so long as the paintgun suppressor is not considered a suppressor for real firearms. This disturbs me in that here we have an executive branch of our government which is making it's own interpretations of the law, and acting upon them, but not letting the public know what those interpretations are. IMHO, governing our country with "secret laws" is a very dangerous concept, and antithetical to what the framers of the constitution had in mind when they penned its first ten amendments.

August 27, 2001, 01:30 AM	#7
MatthewM Senior Member Join Date: April 9, 2001 Posts: 1,003	Use an indelible marker and write "for paintball use only" on your device. That should do it.