With AR-15s in the news because of [ insert this week's horribly depressing reason here ], there's a chance you might be feeling rather peeved at the organization making sure guns are plentiful and easy to purchase in America, the National Rifle Association. But regardless of your politics, you've got to give the NRA some credit for their skill at hiding horrifying stories that would kill any other organization. Their feats range from preventing any real attempts at studying firearm violence to, well ...

6 Campaigning To Re-Legalize Silencers Because Of "Hearing Safety"

As we've covered, silencers don't exactly turn your gun into the ultimate stealth weapon, but they do still make a considerable difference. It's less "jet engine" and more "loud pop," followed by a screaming sack of potatoes hitting the floor if your aim is slightly off.

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It's for this reason that silencers are incredibly difficult to obtain, and are only available to gun owners after they have their details entered into a federal database, pay a $200 transfer fee, and endure a waiting period of up to infinity. Naturally, the NRA doesn't like that one bit, and in 2017, they came up with a strategy for scrapping those regulations: reframing the entire debate as one not one of "continuing to live" safety, but one of hearing safety.

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The new argument is that silencers could help prevent hearing loss amongst gun owners, which'd be a fair point if A) ear protection hadn't existed since forever, and B) gun users were forced into taking up a hobby that involves explosive powder. This complaint formed the basis of two NRA-lobbied bills that would have made silencers much easier to purchase in any state where they aren't outright banned. There was also a completely unrelated bill about hunting and fishing on federal lands, because trying to sneak provisions into law is just good safety, and not an indication of how morally bankrupt our political system is.

US Congress

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The dumbest part is that experts still recommend wearing ear protection if your weapon is suppressed. These bills are aimed at hunters and sportsmen, who would be at an even greater risk of having their hearing damaged because, get this, repetitive mid-volume noises will screw you up as much as occasional earth-shattering noises. Not only this, but isn't the NRA supposed to, like, be against making it easier for criminals to shoot people? That's their whole schtick. How are the GGWG (good guys with guns) supposed to play hero when they're confusing a war zone with a backfiring engine? And wouldn't mass shooters have even more victims if fewer people heard them coming? This Virginia Tech survivor sure thinks so.

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Good news: In the aftermath of the worst mass shooting in our nation's history, the NRA stopped campaigning for this issue and turned their attention towards banning bump stocks, a change of course which lasted nearly an entire news cycle.