The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the rule on registering silencers. The challenge comes from two men out of Kansas who got reprimanded over their inability to register their silencers. One man, Jeremy Kettler was sentenced to one year of probation after being in possession of an unregistered gun silencer. The other man who sold this silencer to Kettler from his army surplus store, Shane Cox, was convicted and sentenced to two years probation for selling his silencer to Kettler. Both men tried taking this challenge of having to register a silencer, to the Supreme Court, believing that the Second Amendment guarantees their right to own a silencer. They also quoted the 1934 National Firearms Act and Kettler specifically said the act imposes the registration requirement along with a $200 tax and that exceeds Congress’s power. A Kansas federal appeals court upheld the law though and said the Second Amendment does not include silencers. In addition this panel in the federal appeals court responded to Kettler's comment regarding the act pertaining to Congress's power saying "a 1937 Supreme Court decision said the measure was a valid use of Congress’s taxing power."
This is a very sore subject because only a month prior a silencer was used in the Virginia Beach mass shooting that killed 12 people. The Supreme Court along with most of the general public who have been enduring these tragic mass shooting where silencers have been used is going to have a hard time allowing such gun accessories to NOT be registered. They want to know every single person who is in possession of a gun silencer because in their eyes it's a matter of public safety. Maybe if this was 30 years ago and mass shootings were not a tragically common thing, the outcome would be different and these two men would maybe have a shot (no pun intended) at overturning this registration rule.
What's your thoughts on gun silencers? Do you still think they should not be registered?
-Producer Lightning