Last week Jon Wayne Taylor and I attended the American Suppressor Association Foundation (ASA-F) Silent Night Banquet, a fundraiser dinner for the ASA‘s crucial 501(c)(3) wing. The ASA-F is heavily involved in litigation and legislation advancing Second Amendment rights with a focus on firearm silencer-related regulations. Funds were, indeed, raised and they’re ready to put them to good use with President Trump headed back to the White House.
As with any red carpet event, I’d just like to answer the important “who are you wearing?” question by saying Hudson H9 with JK Armament 105 CCX suppressor in a BlackPoint Tactical holster. With that out of the way . . .
All sorts of items (guns, suppressors, etc.) and experiences (hunts, training, etc.) were donated to be auctioned off to help raise funds for ASA-F’s legislative and legal agenda. I wasn’t keeping specific track but I believe around $200,000 or more was raised with the help of a professional (and very funny) auctioneer. ASA-F has two lawsuits specifically designed to end up in front of SCOTUS, and they believe it’s going to cost the better part of two million dollars to see it through to the end.
Last week’s banquet was a great step toward that end, but if you find yourself in a position where a charitable donation makes sense on your 2024 tax return I’d certainly recommend considering ASA-F as a worthy recipient.
ASA’s founder, Knox, is at center in the photo above flanked by ASA’s general council, Michael Williams, and Mick Mulvaney, who was White House Chief of Staff during part of the first Trump administration. Knox led a panel discussion to highlight some of their future litigation and legislative agenda items as well as their past successes and then opened it up to questions from the audience.
I found it fascinating to hear from Michael and Mick about how the two current ASA-F lawsuits were strategically filed when, where, and how they were filed in order to generate circuit splits and, therefore, make it far more likely to end up in front of the supreme court. A supreme court, not coincidentally, much more likely today than a few years ago to rule favorably on their pro-Second Amendment suits.
Michael, by the way, is no stranger to the White House either. Originally a penny pincher wonk at the Office of Management and Budget, he ended up being Trump’s go-to advisor on all things Second Amendment (after the bump stock thing, for the record). In fact, it’s quite possible that Michael single-handedly saved us from a Federal-level universal background check law.
Between Mick and Michael it was extremely interesting to hear some of the inside scoop on the 2A-related goings-on during the Trump admin and to gain some insight into their future plans, both personally and on behalf of the ASA Foundation. I was impressed at how strategically their well-organized short-, medium-, and long-term plans are laid out, with many avenues underway simultaneously, in order to advance suppressor rights and 2A rights through both offensive and defensive legislation, litigation, education, and more.
Firearm suppressors are important safety devices that do not deserve to be regulated as they are in the U.S.. We’re the only country in the world that restricts and regulates them. Heck, some European countries mandate their use! The ASA is doing important work toward the goal of getting the U.S. more in-line with the rest of the modern world, where your firearm can wear your hearing protection for you and shooters don’t have to jump through punitive, outdated hoops and pay ridiculous taxes in order to shoot more safely with less noise pollution.
Check them out at the American Suppressor Association and the ASA-F, and if you’re looking for a charity to support then give ’em your consideration!
I recall around this same time in 2016 we were all told national reciprocity was all but guaranteed, suppressors off the NFA was low hanging fruit ripe for the picking followed by SBRs and SBSs and maybe even killing the NFA and GCA altogether.
While we got some good judges appointed we didn’t get any of that other stuff. If I recall correctly the Hearing Protection Act actually met resistance from so-called gun people over being refunded the stupid $200 tax, was pulled and didn’t appear again during Trumps first term.
Hopefully the fake 2A folks, RINOs and Neocons are scared this time around and they don’t waste everyones time worrying what the leftists cocktail set thinks.
“I recall around this same time in 2016 we were all told national reciprocity was all but guaranteed, suppressors off the NFA was low hanging fruit ripe for the picking followed by SBRs and SBSs and maybe even killing the NFA and GCA altogether.”
Had Trump won in 2020, he would have been a hobbled ‘lame duck’ for his second term with no control of the Senate.
It’s really better for us he lost in 2020, he’ll be more powerful now than then. I hope in the last 4 years he’s had a chance to think about how he could do it better this time.
If worst comes to worst, tie the ‘Hearing Protection Act’ to some must-pass legislation and ram it through…
Trump is a lame duck president on day one. I noted the dearth of Representatives and Senators making nationwide declarations of affinity with Trump’s agenda. The Republicrat elites are really no different from the Dimwitocrat elites. Where are the House and Senate victory parties declaring Trump as the inspirational leader of either legislative body.? We have seen this movie before. The biggest issue/concern is who makes up the Republicrat “bench” of potential/likely candidates in 2028. Not to mention 2030 Census concerns.
Defund the ATF.
“Defund the ATF.”
And, what, hand those duties over to the FBI?
There’s no magic wand to wave and make the ATF disappear in a puff of double-base gunpowder, sadly…
There are some legit experts within the ATF. I’ve been saying to move them over to the FBI. Of course, the FBI is one of our most corrupt agencies. It’s all a mess. At a minimum, we have to eliminate redundancy among the agencies. We need a complete reorganization within the federal monstrosity.
At the risk of sounding like a cheapskate, I already purchased three suppressors this summer for a total cost of around $2,500 when you include thread adapters and the like. With how simple suppressors are, they should cost considerably less than a firearm, not considerably more. At any rate, my understanding is that there are at least 10 suppressor manufacturers out there. If all of them share the $2 million cost of the lawsuit, that breaks down to $200,000 per manufacturer. And if the average cost of a suppressor is around $700, that translates to selling about 285 suppressors per manufacturer to cover that expense. Of course that doesn’t account for the material and labor costs to produce those suppressors but it gets us in the ballpark so let’s just round up to 300 suppressors. And if we spread that out over two years, that means each of those companies would have to sell about 150 suppressors each of those two years to cover the legal expense of the lawsuit. That seems like pretty small pickings to me to open the floodgates to a likely massive sales increase.
I look at this another way as well. A significant factor in my decision to buy suppressors this summer was to increase the number of suppressors in the hands of lawful users and hence propel them ever closer to the nebulous threshold of, “in common use.” Thus, my purchase literally put suppressor manufactures on stronger footing if they take a lawsuit to the Supremes. (Additionally, I have urged three friends to purchase suppressors who are likely to do just that.) In other words I have already done my part. It is someone else’s turn to chip in.
Speaking of urging others to purchase suppressors:
I purchased my last suppressor in late September and ATF issued my tax stamp in four days.
We need to attack the tax stamp as unconstitutional, but they will just re-name it a ‘Processing Fee’ to cover the cost of the more extensive background check…
Nobody don;t need no suppressor for the guns they already don’t need. Just think of all the firearm-related stuff that isn’t needed for guns no one need. And averyone is immediately safer in their day-to-day lives. And all that stuff, including guns, means people have more money to spend on food, fuel, and shelter. Removing guns from society makes everyone wealthier. And besides, everyone who legally owns a gun is just showing off their good fortune to be able to have money in excess of the minimal needs to live and work.
iViva Gun Control!
IViva Zapata!
iViva Max!
iViva Las Vegas!
There’s no money in removing SBR/SBS regs, so we don’t hear about that. There’s a financial incentive to deregulate suppressors.
Good stuff and SPOT ON.
FWIW –
I remain unconvinced of two things:
1. Trump is truly a 2A defender; the best outcome would be that he does not make things any worse.
2. There are a sufficent number of gun owners who are RTKBA stalwarts, single-issue voters, POTG, to have any real effect on state, local, and national elections. With an alleged 100mil gun owners, the Second Amendment should have no serious challengers.