Resolution calls for suppressors to be regulated like guns. It now heads to the Idaho House.
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Kyle Pfannenstiel, Idaho Capital Sun
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — The Idaho Senate on Tuesday passed a resolution that calls for gun suppressors to be regulated like guns.
Senate Joint Memorial 104 would urge the U.S. Congress to pass the Hearing Protection Act, a bill supported by Idaho’s U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo that regulates suppressors like firearms.
The Idaho Senate passed the resolution on a 30-5 vote, with five Democrats opposing. It now heads to the Idaho House for consideration.
Suppressor purchases require a months-long registration process and come with a $200 tax, according to the Washington Post. The resolution says it’s not uncommon to wait up to 270 days for paperwork processing. But firearms background checks take seconds, said Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, who sponsored the resolution.
The resolution says suppressor restrictions enacted in the 1930s “put the hearing health of gun owners at risk.”
Harris said suppressors reduce the sound of shooting a firearm significantly and are legal in 42 states.
“Millions of these are in the hands of citizens legally,” Harris said. “And it’s time to update our policy on these suppressors.”
Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa, said “it makes no sense” to regulate suppressors more than firearms themselves.
“These aren’t the things that you see in the movies in Hollywood, where the dramatic assassin goes in and silently deals death with a firearm. This simply reduces the noise so it does not cause potential damage to your hearing. But it’s not a silencer, it’s a suppressor,” Lakey said.
Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, said she was grateful for the resolution. She said she’s heard that this issue has hurt the business of some of her constituents who sell firearms and accessories.
Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, who opposed the resolution, said suppressors are helpful to criminals. She said they’ve been used in assassinations and to murder police officers.
“In this case, we’re putting profit above safety,” Wintrow said.
Rep. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, who also voted no, said she worried more access to suppressors will “downplay the powers that guns have.”
“It’s good that we can hear that power that they have, especially as kids are growing up. And I worry that more accessibility to silencers will downplay the power that guns have,” Rabe said.