Many newspapers accept Letters to the Editor where readers can express their opinions. In addition, many news outlets often allow comments on specific articles where readers can offer their opinion as well as additional information. If you would like to submit a Letter to the Editor to your local newspaper opposing the current pro-gun effort on Capitol Hill to deregulate firearm silencers, below is a draft letter that you can draw from.
To the Editor:
Since 1934, firearm silencers (attachments which reduce the sound of a gunshot when attached to a handgun or rifle) have been tightly restricted by the federal government due to the threat they pose to public safety. Yet right now in the U.S. Senate pro-gun federal lawmakers, cheered on by the firearms industry, are working to pass legislation that would make these lethal accessories readily available as part of the wildly misnamed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
As detailed in a recent report from the Violence Policy Center, silencers—both legal and illegal—have been involved in serious and deadly crimes that graphically illustrate the threat to public safety that making them widely available would represent. The gun industry hypocritically presents silencer deregulation as a “public health” issue to protect the hearing of shooters—even as guns claim nearly 47,000 lives per year. Yet this legislation would not only increase the availability of these lethal accessories, but would also allow for a new generation of easily available guns with integral silencers. This would create a whole new category of firearm that would fuel gun industry marketing efforts—both reselling current gun owners while enticing potential new buyers—and inevitably lead to increased gun death and injury.
Deregulating firearm silencers will only benefit the bottom line of the gun industry at the price of public safety. I urge everyone who cares about the safety of their community to call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to oppose firearm silencer deregulation.
Sincerely,
