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The Hearing Protection Act is Getting a lot of Attention
During the 2016 presidential election, President Donal Trump emphasized his support for the Second Amendment. I do not recall that he ever mentioned gun mufflers, silencers, or the Hearing Protection Act.
But the penumbra of his attention to the Second Amendment is having implications beyond his direct gaze. The President Elect is setting the tone, and people are falling in line.
The Hearing Protection Act, or HPA, was filed by Matt Salmon of Arizona. Matt has been a stand up guy for he Second Amendment. Matt is retiring this year, but the HPA will go forward in 2017. The bill reforms the current archaic restrictions and regulations on gun mufflers or silencers. Those restrictions are from the 1930s and never made any sense.
The rest of the world does not share America's self imposed prohibition on gun mufflers. In the rest of the world, silencers are regarded as a useful accessory, something that the neighbors appreciate because it reduces noise pollution.
In Europe, silencers are far less regulated than they are in the United States. In New Zealand, a 12 year old can walk into a hardware store, pay $20, and walk out with a perfectly serviceable commercial silencer.
Before the election of Donald Trump, the HPA did not appear in the top ten of the most viewed bills before Congress.
After the election, in the week ending November 13th, the Hearing Protection Act was the second most viewed bill in Congress.
In the week ending November 20th, it was again the second most viewed bill in Congress.
In the week ending November 27th, it was the most viewed bill in Congress.
In the week ending December 4th, it dropped to the third most viewed bill in Congress.
Congress critters pay attention to these sort of things. Here is the link to the site that tracks the most viewed bills, if you want to see how the HPA is doing in the weeks ahead.
The HPA is common sense reform legislation that is long overdue.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Source: http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-hearing-protection-act-is-getting.html
