Suppressor on Home Defense gun?

[mwcooke]

Just wanting to see what most people think about using a suppressor on their home defense gun. The major benefits, obviously, would be protection of you and your family members hearing if you ever have to use the weapon in self defense, and the increase in ability to hear what is happening while you are engaging the BG. With that being said, how is the prosecutor going to portray you in a self denfense shooting trial when you used a suppressor? Is the Jury going to look at you like you're Timothy Olyphant?

 

[Libertarian01]

To MWCooke,

I believe this would be counterproductive to the goal of home defense. While we may be willing to kill someone breaking into our homes our primary goal is to remove the threat and neutralize the bad guy. Whether neutralization occurs through end of life, running away, surrendering, or simply wounding does not matter.

Equal to our primary goal is surviving the event. Our survival increases when the hostiles accuracy is reduced. One of the best ways to reduce the hostiles accuracy is to frighten him.

Imagine someone across the room pointing something at you and you hear, "pfht, pfht, pfht." Just little, almost inaudible noises. You will likely not flinch. Now imagine someone across the room pointing something at you and you hear, "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" with enough intensity to deafen you while wondering what cannon is going off.

The goal is not to impress the bad guy with your unique collection of firearms paraphernalia. It is to make him stop, drop, find Jesus, and pray for the cannon to stop barking.

Just my opinion of course.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Sailor]

I can see being able to hear and communicate with your family as being important.

Shoot a gun in a hallway with no ear pro, then decide.

 

[nomadicmutt]

Full Disclosure: I have heard a silencer fired exactly once, and it was a .22 at an indoor range.

However,

I'm going to disagree with libertarian01.

Silencers don't make a "pfht pfht pfht" sound at all. They sound like a gunshot, especially indoors.
I'd even say that in a perfect, NFA-free world, everyone using an AR for home defense should have a silencer mounted. They still say "bang" and on an AR might still cause hearing damage. But you've moved the "sound meter" it from "certain hearing damage and complete temporary deafness" to "possible hearing damage and increased immediate situational awareness".

it's not a movie. Silencers just make dangerously loud firearms a little quieter.

 

[churchmouse]

If you have ever in your life been in a room with a .45 ACP being discharged with no hearing protection it is hard to describe.
I agree with Lib01...deafining

 

[cosermann]

Frankly, I wouldn't plan use a rifle or SBR for HD without a suppressor unless I had no other choice. Not so necessary with a handgun.

The other way to skin this cat is to keep a pair of active electronic earmuffs close at hand. Similar results at a fraction of the cost, and some can enhance your hearing in addition to protect it.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Pfft, pfft, pfft, that is just stuff made up in the movies isn't it?

 

[chuckp]

If you have ever in your life been in a room with a .45 ACP being discharged with no hearing protection it is hard to describe.
I agree with Lib01...deafining

Actually the sound of a non suppressed gun is not too deafening when the adrenaline is flowing in a life or death shooting. The fear and adrenaline when having to stop someone by shooting them kind of blocks the sound of the gun and amplifies the flash a bit. Your hearing will recover long before your balls come out of hiding after shooting someone to save your life. Anyone that has been there will know what I am talking about.

I think a sound suppressed firearm is a nice tool to have in the collection of self defense tools but a lawyer will use it to their advantage in a civil lawsuit. Its better to not give them the tools to use against you.


chuck

 

[JoshuaW]

Frankly, I wouldn't plan use a rifle or SBR for HD without a suppressor unless I had no other choice. Not so necessary with a handgun.

The other way to skin this cat is to keep a pair of active electronic earmuffs close at hand. Similar results at a fraction of the cost, and some can enhance your hearing in addition to protect it.

Would you really want to stop and put those on though? I have had a similar thought, because I carry a cheap pair of in ear hearing protection handy as part of my EDC, so those are always within reach, but I really don't think I would take the two seconds to put them in before firing, regardless of the situation. If it requires my immediate response with a firearm, then seconds count.

I'm waiting on my tax stamp for my first suppressor, but it will not be living on any of my guns. I think a "clean shoot" is a "clean shoot", but I dont want to complicate things or be the next big national news controversy. I can see the media turning that into a George Zimmerman type frenzy, even if bad guy had a knife to an infants throat. Unfortunately we all know the story on MSNBC would read similar to the paragraph below:

"Then JoshuaW, a want-to-be hitman with a silencer attached to his semiautomatic AR15, similar to that used in the Sandy Hook massacre, loaded with an exotic, ultra high powered, ultra silent 300 Blackout caliber cartridge silently crept into the room where 18 year old crack addict who was turning his life around was, and shot him repeatedly until he died. No motivation for the slaying has been found, but it appears JoshuaW may have been motivated by race, and an urge to carry out his hitman fantasies on any young, minority race crack addict who entered his home. No arrests have been made in the case, and that is the subject of extreme outcry as the mother of the 18 year old victim pleads with police, insisting that her son was just in JoshuaW's home to ask for a glass of warm milk and a bed time story before he went home to get a good night's rest and attend school the next day."

 

[Hoosier8]

Suppressor? Why not? They used to be popular for hunting before they got regulated because they would be less distracting and more enjoyable to shoot with. Now you practice with ear plugs but have no idea what it would be like shooting indoors without earplugs.

I took my 22 out back one evening and fired it without ear protection and was surprised how loud it was. I think having a suppressor would be less distracting in a high stress situation without ear protection.

 

[KJQ6945]

Use the suppressor, put it away before the PD shows up. You can still hear, you didn't set your hallway on fire, and your neighbors still heard a bang. Problem solved.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Just wanting to see what most people think about using a suppressor on their home defense gun. The major benefits, obviously, would be protection of you and your family members hearing if you ever have to use the weapon in self defense, and the increase in ability to hear what is happening while you are engaging the BG. With that being said, how is the prosecutor going to portray you in a self denfense shooting trial when you used a suppressor? Is the Jury going to look at you like you're Timothy Olyphant?

I think its a great idea, reduced noise and muzzle flash is never a bad idea. If its a good shoot, you won't ever worry about what a jury thinks or how the prosecutor will portray it. "No person in this state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting the person or a third person by reasonable means..." per IC code.

I know the gun mags love to say "don't use this, the prosecutor will make you look evil." Maybe that happens in some states, I don't know, but its a non-issue in Indiana. The shooting is justified or not justified based on the circumstances, not the equipment used.

Use the suppressor, put it away before the PD shows up. You can still hear, you didn't set your hallway on fire, and your neighbors still heard a bang. Problem solved.

Why tamper with evidence? Create a crime where none existed for no gain? Plus, as an investigator, if ballistics don't match the gun and if some major portion of your story turns out to be false, well lets say it changes the tone of the investigation.

 

[mwcooke]

I know the gun mags love to say "don't use this, the prosecutor will make you look evil." Maybe that happens in some states, I don't know, but its a non-issue in Indiana. The shooting is justified or not justified based on the circumstances, not the equipment used.

Those are my feelings exactly. I just always try to look through every possible angle when it comes to self defense. Example: A 1911 with punisher grips on it looks awesome, and I would love to have them on my carry gun. However, how does a jurry see a guy walking around with that gun? You hope and pray everyday that your carry or home defense weapons never have to do their real job, but if they do, you also have to think about what happens afterwards, and how you are going to be perceived.

It just seems like a waste to spend all the money on the supressors and stamps, to let them sit on a shelf in the safe, only to be used when at the range. Especially, when I feel like it could really give you an advantage in an emergency home shooting situation. Not trying to be a mall ninja or anything, but if theres more than one person in your house, as soon as you start shooting, its gonna be pretty hard to hear where the other one might be.

 

[45calibre]

a much better alternative is electronic ear protection, it aids you by blocking the loud noise, increases awareness by amplifying the small noises, and still allows the bad guy to hear the loud boom.

i fired a .45acp in an enclosed space once with no hearing protection, you dont even hear a bang all that happens is an instant "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep" for about a minute or two and that was a subsonic round, im pretty sure an ar would destroy your ear drums.

self defense is self defense no matter what way you do it. someone in your home at night is a threat no matter what tool you use to stop the threat.

 

[PiccoloPlayer]

Fixed it for ya

Unfortunately we all know the story on MSNBC would read similar to the paragraph below:

"Then JoshuaW, a want-to-be hitman with a silencer attached to his fully automatic AR15 Assault weapon, just like the one used in the Sandy Hook massacre, loaded with an exotic, ultra high powered, ultra silent, nuclear 300 Blackout caliber cartridge silently crept into the room where 18 year old crack addict who was turning his life around was, and shot him repeatedly until he died. No motivation for the slaying has been found, but it appears JoshuaW may have been motivated by race, and an urge to carry out his hitman fantasies on any young, minority race crack addict, or meth head who entered his home. No arrests have been made in the case, and that is the subject of extreme outcry as the mother of the 18 year old victim pleads with police, insisting that her son was just in JoshuaW's home to ask for a glass of warm milk and a bed time story before he went home to get a good night's rest and attend school the next day."

 

[PiccoloPlayer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2GchQ3orB0

 

[Boonl1776]

Do you need to wake your kids up unnecessarily?

 

[ATM]

If I have to run someone over with my car, I'm not sure that having done so with or without a muffler installed will be of paramount importance to the jury.

 

[Amac91]

Being indoors when a 9mm +P round was fired without ear protection left me completely disoriented for a few seconds and worried about permanent hearing damage do to my incredibly dulled sense of hearing for about 10 minutes. Not that that would stop me in a self defense situation but it is something that's hard to truly appreciate until you experience it.

 

[MikeDVB]

Having a silencer would be great for home defense for me as I have a 6 month old and firing the gun in the house to save our lives would certainly damage his hearing and my own.

I hope that the day does not come where I must use a firearm to defend myself or my family.

I really wish they would make suppressors non-NFA items.