Our forebears recognized the dangers of silencers almost immediately, and they weren't limited to fears about criminal use. The silencer was invented in 1908 by Hiram Maxim, and the first state law outlawing silencers' sale or possession came within a year — a Maine ban enacted in 1909. Pittsburgh moved against silencers that same year. As the city's superintendent of police warned, "The risk of shooting is too great; the discharge of the weapon makes too much noise and attracts too many people. But with a silencer in use this would be different."