Gun rights activists have been fighting lawmakers for decades to loosen restrictions and regulations on silencers — saying they are a health aid to protect hearing — but they stand a much better chance now with a GOP-controlled Congress and a backer in the son of the president-elect, The Washington Post chronicled Sunday.
"It's about safety — it's about hearing protection," Donald Trump Jr., told Utah silencer manufacturer SilencerCo. "It's a health issue, frankly, for me."
The manufacturer and gun rights activists are hoping to push legislation under the Trump administration to pass a bill called the Hearing Protection Act, which moves to eliminate a $200 tax and nine-month approval process on silencers, The Post reported.
"There is nothing bad about it at all — it makes total sense," Trump Jr. added. "It's where we should be going."
Trump Jr. said he has used silencers hunting in Europe — "where some of the strictest gun laws in the world exist."
"And guess what?" Trump Jr. added. "Virtually every hunting gun there is suppressed."
Trump Jr. railed on "arbitrary policies by people who don't know what they're talking about" in leaving the U.S. behind Europe in many aspects, including gun technology and safety.
"It's just another rule government wants to put in place for no reason," Trump Jr. added. "If Europe can do it, American better well be able to do it. It doesn't make any sense to me."
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