COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Committee members in the Ohio House of Representatives are expected to vote Tuesday on a bill legalizing the use of noise suppressors on guns for Ohio's hunters.

House Bill 234 would permit the use of guns outfitted with suppressors while Ohioans hunt wild game and birds.

Voting on the bill was pushed back earlier this year, as members of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee wanted to first see the devices in action. Legislators met Feb. 3 at Black Wing Shooting Center in Central Ohio. Some, including Rep. John Becker, who is one of the bill's sponsors along with Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, fired guns themselves.

Grossman and Becker, a Republican from Union Township, both have maintained that the suppressors share little resemblance to the covert silencers made famous in James Bond movies, but still would help hunters sustain hearing ability.

"There is no relevance to reality when it comes to Hollywood movies and silencers," Becker said in January.

<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/7866777/">Should Ohio hunters be allowed to use noise suppressors?</a>

During a test conducted at the gun range by Eric Bielefeld, assistant professor of speech and hearing science at The Ohio State University, it was found that the suppressors brought sound down about 15 to 20 decibels.

Hunting advocates have said the suppressors would primarily be used on firearms for hunting varmint animals, such as groundhogs.

One of the initial critics of the bill was the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, whose members initially thought widespread suppressor use could lead to "evil and nefarious action," John Murphy, the association's executive director, said in January.

But Murphy said that position may've been a "knee jerk" reaction, and the organization retracted their opposition last October.

Noise suppressor registration includes a $200 tax and a waiting period that typically lasts about eight to 12 months.

Sam Howard is a fellow in Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau.