Tompkins: 'Silencers' on firearms could get loud response

Recommended Video:

Texas would join at least 14 other states in allowing use of sound suppressors - so-called "silencers" - on firearms used to take game animals if a rule change submitted this past week is adopted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

The suppressor proposal was part of a package of suggested changes in state hunting and fishing regulations that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff tendered this past week.

Included in the package are proposals to open a deer season in Galveston County; close a long irrelevant pheasant season in three southeast Texas counties; impose gear tag requirements on throwlines and minnow traps used in freshwater; and change the re-dating requirements for gear tags used on passive fishing gear such as trotlines and throwlines from 30 days to 10 days.

'Coolness' factor

Interest in using noise suppressors on firearms has exploded over the past few years as shooters have become more aware of hearing damage caused by firearms, efforts to reduce noise complaints associated with shooting and some hunters' fascination with technology and the "coolness" factor of suppressors.

A firearm sound suppressor, basically a baffle-filled cylinder threaded on the end of a firearm's barrel, reduces but does not eliminate the muzzle blast when that gun is fired. It does not impact the loud crack of a projectile traveling faster than the speed of sound, approximately 1,100 feet per second, but does, to varying degrees, reduce overall noise level.

Texas is one of 39 states allowing possession of a firearms suppressor. Current Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regulations allow suppressors to be used when hunting non-game animals such as feral hogs but prohibit their use when hunting game animals such as white-tailed deer, Maj. Scott Vaca of TPWD's law enforcement division told the TPW Commission regulations committee during a Wednesday briefing on proposed rules changes.

The agency received requests to remove the prohibition of using suppressors when hunting game animals, and wildlife division staff said there is no biological reason to prohibit use of the noise-reducing devices.

If the TPW Commission approves the change, use of suppressors by Texans hunting deer, squirrels or other game animals is not likely to be high because of the cost (several hundred dollars or more) of the devices and the regulatory hassles associated with obtaining one.

Leads nation in sales

While Texas allows possession and use of firearms sound suppressors, the devices are heavily regulated under federal firearms laws. To legally purchase a suppressor, which are termed "silencers" by federal statutes, a person must do business with a dealer licensed by federal authorities to handle the devices, meet strict application requirements for a permit to possess the device and pay a $200 transfer tax.

Texas annually leads the nation in sales of firearms suppressors. In 2010, according to a National Shooting Sports Foundation report, about 3,600 of the approximately 22,200 federal transfer tax fees for "silencers" were paid by Texans.

Galveston County this autumn would see its first general deer hunting season in decades if the commission approves a wildlife division proposal.

While Galveston County doesn't have a large deer population, it does hold some thriving deer herds in isolated pockets of habitat, said Alan Cain, TPWD whitetail deer program leader. Allowing a general deer season (an archery season and general deer season with a four-deer - two-bucks, two-does -bag limit) would not have a negative impact on those herds, offers some additional hunting opportunity to Texans and gives landowners an additional tool to address urban deer issues.

Pheasants 'blinked out'

TPWD proposes ending the annual pheasant season in Jefferson, Chambers and Liberty counties. The season is an artifact of a failed attempt to establish self-sustaining pheasant populations in those counties.

In the 1970s and '80s, TPWD raised and released more than 17,000 pheasants on the coastal prairie. The non-natives birds failed to adjust to the new habitat and populations "blinked out," Robert Perez, TPWD upland game bird program leader, told the commission.

Of the handful of fishing-related rules changes proposed, those involving tagging requirements for "passive" fishing gear used in freshwater stand to have the widest impact.

Under the proposal, throwlines and minnow traps used in freshwater would fall under the same "gear tag" requirements as trotlines. Currently, trotlines must have a "gear tag," which includes the owner's name, address and date the line was set affixed. The tag is valid for 30 days, after which the line must be removed or a new tag affixed.

Throwlines targeted

Under current rules, throwlines and minnow traps set in freshwater are not required to have gear tags. Adding the gear tag requirement for the devices is needed, TPWD officials said, because the devices, particularly throwlines (most commonly called limb lines - single lines with five or fewer hooks and attached at one end to a permanent fixture such as a tree limb overhanging the water) often are abandoned by their owners and continue catching and killing fish and wildlife.

Because the abandoned throwlines are, under current law, considered private property and are not in violation of any regulation, they can not be removed, even by law enforcement officers.

If the proposal is adopted, abandoned throwlines - those with no gear tag or a gear tag that has expired - would be in violation of the rules and could be removed by game wardens.

TPWD also proposed reducing the time gear tags are valid. Currently, those tags are good for 30 days, longer than any other state allows. TPWD proposed mandating gear tags for trotlines, throwlines and minnow traps be valid for only 10 days.

After a public comment period that will include hearings held across the state during February and early March, the proposals will be considered for adoption at the TPW Commission's March 29 meeting.

If adopted, changes would take effect Sept. 1.

shannon.tompkins@chron.com