Data from Federal regulators show that the number of firearm suppressors, often called silencers, is climbing at an incredible rate. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, until 2020, detailed the number of NFA items such as suppressors and short-barreled rifles held on the agency's National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record in the "Annual Firearms Commerce in the United States" report. In the past, this allowed media outlets like Guns.com to document the steady rise in suppressors in circulation, for instance from 900,000 in 2016 to 1.5 million in 2018.

However, the ATF stopped including the NFRTR numbers in the annual report starting in May 2021, in effect leaving the figures frozen in time at 2,664,774. 

This changed following a Freedom of Information Act request from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the American firearms industry. The group's FOIA request uncovered that 4,857,897 NFA-compliant suppressors were in circulation as of June 2024, a jump of 82 percent from the 2021 figure.

This averages to nearly 60,000 new suppressors added to the NFRTR every month for the past three years. 
 

Related: Two Guys One Guns Podcast, Episode 24: Suppressors
 

"Gun ownership has skyrocketed over the past several years, including more than 22.3 million new first-time gun owners since 2020," notes the NSSF in a release emailed to Guns.com. "Likewise, as millions of Americans have become more knowledgeable and familiar with firearms, they’ve also become more familiar with what a suppressor is and isn’t. Suppressors, or 'silencers' as they are called in the law, are nothing like the way they are characterized in Hollywood films. They do not silence the firearm’s report. They act like a muffler to reduce the sound level."

According to the American Suppressor Association, in 2011 only 39 states allowed consumers to own the devices, and only 22 of those allowed hunting with suppressors. As a result of advocacy, that number has increased to 42 states that recognize the right to own a suppressor and 41 that allow their use in hunting, where they help with hearing protection and reduction of noise complaints. 

Banner image: Ruger SFAR 16-inch carbine in .308 Winchester with a SilencerCo Omega 36M modular multi-caliber suppressor, an EoTech XPS with a magnifier, and a BFG sling. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)