Suppressors in Canada: A Proposal

[u/picatdim]

Firearm suppressors are currently illegal to own in Canada, but are legal and even encouraged in the US and many European countries. Suppressors alone do not make a gunshot silent; rather, they reduce its volume significantly. Suppressors can also be used in conjunction with subsonic ammunition, which does not produce a sonic boom when fired. This combination can render a gunshot almost completely silent and hearing-safe.

The legalization of suppressors is important for reducing the impact on the hearing health of the shooter and nearby people. It also lowers the gunshot noise generated by an active shooting range or a hunter out in the forest, resulting in fewer noise complaints by range neighbours and less environmental impact on the part of hunters.

If suppressors are legalized, I propose the implementation of a federal tax of $25 on the sale of each new suppressor. This special tax revenue would be partially allocated towards improved border security targeted at reducing the flow of illegal weapons smuggled into Canada from the United States. Smuggled weapons account for the vast majority of gun violence in this country. The second portion of the tax revenue would be allocated towards supporting the victims of gun violence, whether that be through mental health initiatives, enhanced medical care or direct financial support.

There are approximately 2 million licensed firearms owners in Canada. If each of them bought just one suppressor in a given year, the $25 tax per suppressor would result in an extra 50 million dollars the federal government could put towards eradicating firearms smuggling and assisting the victims of gun violence.

This suppressor initiative benefits everyone except for the criminals who smuggle and kill with illegal weapons. Firearms owners benefit from less hearing damage, range neighbours and the environment suffer less from noise pollution, the government benefits from increased funding to reduce the impact of gun smuggling and gun crime, and the victims of gun violence are granted increased support.

[u/chillyrabbit]

1. I don't like the implementation or idea of a tax, that is a very American-centric way of implementing a fee as a means of acquiring a suppressor

2. Additionally I'm not sure you can use a tax or fee like that with our government to fund things like that. I also don't like the idea that border security or gun violence funding has to come from users of guns specifically. It just seems like a way to offload responsibility of the government to do these things to us.

3. is the fee for each new suppressor sold? or a fee when a suppressor transfers hands?

4. The long gun registry was originally a pay to play system with registration fees that were constantly waived to get people to register. Why would this be different? Because its a novel product?

5. How would enforcement of the fee work? Would it still be illegal to manufacture a suppressor? How would the government track if it was a suppressor that had the fee paid or not? Would it have to be registered?