‘Like a Muffler on a Car': Cascade County Sheriff Clears Up Misconceptions About Suppressors

Every Tuesday morning, I get the opportunity to catch up with Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter (unless he's preoccupied with being the Sheriff) on 560 KMON-AM.

This week, the topic of suppressors came up with a recent court ruling that seem to indicate the red tape surrounding suppressors and short-barreled rifles is falling away.

But to those wondering: are suppressors a good thing for Montanans?

Montana and the Legality of Suppressors

Now, just because there could be changes regarding suppressors on the federal level, Montana still has some existing statutes pertaining to unauthorized possession.

For example, Montana Code Annotated § 45-8-336 says:

"Possession of silencer. (1) A person commits the offense of possession of a silencer if the person possesses, manufactures, transports, buys, or sells a silencer and has the purpose to use it to commit an offense or knows that another person has such a purpose.

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(2) A person convicted of the offense of possession of a silencer is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not less than 5 years or more than 30 years or by a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $20,000, or both."

...and Mont. Code Ann. § 45-8-337 says:

"Possession of unregistered silencer or of bomb or similar device prima facie evidence of unlawful purpose. Possession of a silencer that is not registered under federal law or of a bomb or similar device charged or filled with one or more explosives is prima facie evidence of a purpose to use the same to commit an offense."

"The person that holds that federal firearms license isn’t going to violate a federal law or a state law," Sheriff Slaughter said. "They’re just not going to risk it."

Sheriff Slaughter Debunks Suppressor (AKA "Silencer") Myths

Sheriff Slaughter cleared up some misconceptions people have about suppressors or "silencers" as some people call them.

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"Some people might call it a silencer, but the technical name for it, it doesn't silence sound," Sheriff Slaughter said, "It suppresses it."

"Just like the same as you have a muffler on your car and quiets the car. Well, that's all a suppressor does is it quiets the firearm. It makes it hearing safe so that the end user isn't getting their eardrums blown out."

"And there's just a lot of misinformation about these, these firearms and these accessories because a suppressor isn't a firearm. It's an accessory, but it gets treated like a firearm."

What if a Would-Be Criminal Wants to Use a Silencer for Their First Offense?

I asked Sheriff Slaughter about concerns some might have about people obtaining a suppressor legally and using that in their "first crime."

"So if someone could legally get a suppressor, right? Does that increase the chances that if someone snaps, they're more likely to use it?" I asked.

"So here's the thing... It's an inanimate object, just like the steak knife in your house. Just like your motor vehicle. Just like the carbon monoxide poisoning you could die from or, you know, whatever," Sheriff Slaughter explained, "The firearm is not the offender, it's the person carrying it out."

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"And if you look historically across, you know, homicides and different things now, Montana is going to scale a little higher in firearms related deaths and murders.
But, but partly that's because of all the States in the union, we probably have, we have the highest firearms ownership per capita."

What do you think? Should suppressors and short barrel rifles be more readily availble for Montanans to purchase legally? Let me know your thoughts HERE.

You can listen to Sheriff Slaughter and I's full conversation from today HERE. A video clip from that interview can be seen below.