The Ease of Suppressor Ownership Via Silencer Central

The popularity of suppressors in the hunting realm has grown exponentially over the past decade. Traditionally, the baffled cylindrical gun accessory has long been a favored handgun fixture of movie mobsters and secret agents. But in recent years, suppressors have made their way from the big screen to the backcountry. Why? Thanks in part to one company making the process of owning a can exponentially easier.

Just over a decade ago, owning a suppressor was something only shooters and hunters dreamed of. The process under the National Firearms Act (NFA) was time-consuming and confusing, and it took months to gain the proper approval and paperwork. But owning a suppressor was perfectly legal…just hidden behind government jargon that scared the Average Joe from wanting to pursue the process.

Brandon Maddox, then a part of the pharmaceutical industry and now the founder and CEO of Silencer Central, had an epiphany while hunting prairie dogs in 2005: he wanted something to quiet his rifle, and he wanted to bring suppressors to everyday hunters. What he found was even the government was confused on not only its process of issuing permits to citizens to own suppressors but also on the laws for buying and selling suppressors across state lines. This process needed to be simplified, and Maddox would be the one to do it.

Maddox began his silencer sale endeavor by setting up a small booth at a local South Dakota gun show. But he ran into problems: he could only sell to South Dakota residents, not to out-of-state visitors of the show. Maddox’s new business model: He wanted to sell silencers across state lines and mail them to customers.

Rapid Growth

Fast forward 15 years, and Maddox has taken his small booth and moved it into an almost 50,000-square-foot facility to become the leading authority on suppressor sales, government processes and regulations, and even suppressor manufacturing. Silencer Central, located in Sioux Falls, can sell and ship suppressors to all 42 states that allow legal ownership.

Additionally, Silencer Central changed the game when it came to applying for and owning a suppressor. How? By simplifying the process for customers and taking the thought process out of it. Silencer Central prides itself on being the experts on the legal processes it takes to own a suppressor.

Their entire system is set up so that you can apply and buy a suppressor with their help from the comfort of your home. When you decide to buy from Silencer Central, they email you a short questionnaire they use to fill out the required Form 4 application from the ATF. They also sell an at-home fingerprint kit ($9.99) so you can easily ink your fingerprints on paper, which are required by the ATF.

Confused on anything? Silencer Central’s excellent customer service reps are on standby to hop on a phone call to walk you through the process.

Speeding Up the Process

For years, the wait time to have your Form 4 application approved has taken 10 months or more. The ATF’s process was not refined, causing a backlog of approvals.

However, in March 2024, Silencer Central noticed that approvals had gone from months to days. During their daily morning “scrum,” Maddox was used to hearing reports of ATF application approvals of a few hundred a day…then it was over a thousand. What had changed?

With the popularity of suppressors growing, the acting ATF Division Chief, Ben Hiller, took a deep dive into the paperwork and process to identify what the holdup was. What he found was that 80 percent of the work the ATF was doing was duplicative and unnecessary, and implemented changes to fix the issue. Furthermore, the ATF examiners are now assigned certain types of applications to also help speed up the process. The four categories are:

• Individual applications
• Bundled individual applications
• NFA trust applications
• Bundled NFA trust applications

“Bundling” by the ATF means they have created an algorithm to help identify individuals who have multiple pending applications. Instead of sending the FBI multiple applications from one individual for background checks, the ATF now sends them in batches for better efficiency. This has increased approval speeds exponentially.

Why Suppressors for Hunting?

Often associated with the tactical shooting realm, bringing suppressors to the hunting industry was a mission for Maddox. Why hunt with a suppressor?

The first being the most obvious: to save your hearing. The report of a rifle can be upwards of 175 dB—sounds below 70 dBA are considered safe. The likelihood of big game hunters wearing hearing protection is low, despite the risks. Adding a titanium can to the end of your barrel doesn’t add unnecessary weight or length—it just saves your eardrums. The dampening noise also allows hunters to hear the bullet impact on their target buck or bull and doesn’t scare game away in case of a miss.

Suppressors also aid in reducing felt recoil. Ever flinched from shooting a .300 Win. Mag.? Need a quick follow-up shot? Less recoil means you’re back on the scope in no time. And what about a bad experience with a young hunter who not only is knocked backwards from recoil but concussed from a loud BANG! Throw a silencer on, and recoil is dramatically reduced, making for a better shooting experience for both novice and experienced hunters.

Silencer Central has changed the game for suppressor ownership. Not only have they educated the public on the process to legally own a suppressor, but they have also helped spread the message on the multitude of reasons why it’s important to hunt suppressed. Their streamlined, all in-house process leaves you zero excuses not to apply and buy a suppressor for your next backcountry hunt.

Banish Backcountry

This ultralight suppressor is made for those hunters heading far into the backcountry who are worried about every ounce. Weighing just 7.8 ounces, six baffles inside of the suppressor reduce the decibel level to 135 dB. Rated for calibers up to .300 Rem. Ultra Mag. $1,099 | silencercentral.com

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