While much of the attention on suppressors lately has focused the Hearing Protection Act and its inclusion in the SHARE Act, SilencerCo isn’t interested in just waiting around for the laws to change. Instead, it seems the mad scientists have come up with something that will let everyone own a suppressed gun reportedly without going through the NFA nonsense.

From their press release:

For the first time since the National Firearms Act (NFA) was created in 1934, civilians can enjoy suppressed shooting in all 50 states with SilencerCo’s latest innovation: the integrally suppressed Maxim 50 muzzleloader. In addition, this product can be purchased right now on the web with no regulation (no 4473, no tax stamp, no photographs or fingerprints) at store.silencerco.com and be shipped immediately to the purchaser with few exceptions*.

Residents in the 42 states that allow civilian ownership of silencers have to pay a $200 tax, fill out forms, send in photos, submit to fingerprinting, and wait months for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to review their forms and check their backgrounds—just to acquire an inherently-harmless product. With all the hoops to jump through, it’s no surprise that many Americans have difficulty committing the time or money it takes to save their hearing. Citizens may have had their Second Amendment rights suppressed, but innovation cannot be silenced.

With the invention of the Maxim 50, SilencerCo has created a product that is 100% legal for civilian ownership in all 50 states while providing hearing-saving suppression at a reasonable price point. How is this possible? By paying very close attention to the law.

The exemptions can be viewed at SilencerCo’s website linked below.

The trick here is that SilencerCo has looked at how the ATF defines a suppressor and then worked around that definition. “The BATFE defines a silencer as a “device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm . . .”  By that definition, a silencer is only a silencer if it can attach to a firearm. The Maxim 50 is built on the base of a Traditions™ Vortek Strikerfire Muzzleloader.”

The catch is that the ATF doesn’t define muzzleloaders as firearms., which means a device for reducing the noise from a muzzleloader it’s permanently attached to can’t be considered a suppressor for legal purposes.

To be sure, SilencerCo is tickled with themselves, and for good reason.

“It took a lot of creativity to arrive at this solution,” said Josh Waldron, SilencerCo CEO and Co-Founder. “We have been working on this product for three years, with most of that time spent waiting on a determination from the Technology Branch of the BATFE as to how this product would be classified. As soon as we received official word that it wouldn’t be considered or regulated as a silencer, we got to work on bringing the Maxim 50 to customers across the country.”

SilencerCo figures that the Maxim 50 will be popular not only with the NFA-collectors and aficionados but also with hobby muzzleloader shooters and hunters. After all, muzzleloader season tends to start earlier than standard rifle season in most states, which means the Maxim 50 will let hunters get a few more weeks in the stand.

Of course, in that regard, the Maxim 50 isn’t any different than any other muzzleloader. However, with the suppression on the gun, SilencerCo boasts that the gun also now lacks the traditional downsides of black powder shooting, namely the heavy recoil and the thick cloud of smoke that’s reminiscent of a frat party in Colorado…oh, and, obviously, the earth-shattering kaboom.

If true, this may actually increase the popularity of muzzleloader hunting since the biggest problems with it now seem to be reduced…all in a suppressed and legal package.

More on the Maxim 50 can be found at www.silencerco.com/maxim50.

This is an awesome thing, and they have a point on the technicality. In addition to the determination from BATFE, each gun will ship with a copy of the determination letter, just in case some anti-gun prosecutor decides to get antsy about a suppressed muzzleloader.

To be sure, SilencerCo is doing some cool stuff with guns, such as the Maxim 9 handgun, but this is something cool that can come right to your front door.