Elijah Crane

During Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee roundtable, Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) exposed myths the left perpetuates about suppressors and called for “clearing the way” for law-abiding Americans to access the devices.

Crane used his time to ask questions to American Suppressor Association’s Knox Williams, Retired Deputy Assistant ATF Director Peter Forcelli, and National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Lawrence Keane.

During this time of questions and answers Crane suggested that some “elected officials” are slow to remove restrictions on suppressors “because they are pretty ignorant about what [suppressors] actually do.” He suggested such officials actually get their information from watching movies.

Williams concurred and Crane added, “I own several [suppressors] myself, and you watch these Hollywood movies and it makes them sound like they are whisper quiet and that’s not the case at all.”

Crane then shifted from the left’s make-believe suppressor world to the hand wringing claims that more suppressor access will result in more crime.

He asked Forcelli how many times suppressors were part of a matter he investigated during his decades-long law enforcement career, and Forcelli responded, “Two.”

Forcelli further noted that the two suppressors were not used in “violent criminal acts” but discovered during the execution of search warrants.

Crane then asked Keane, a former prosecutor, if his experience was similar to Forcelli’s, and Keane responded, “I never encountered a case involving a suppressed firearm.”

As discussion continued between Crane and the panel, they noted that adding a suppressor to a pistol increases the size of the gun, making it harder to conceal and therefore not an attractive choice for criminals.

Keane noted the surge in suppressor demand, pointing out that there are now approximately 6.65 million suppressors in civilian hands. He noted that the exponential growth in suppressor ownership has not resulted in any “increase in the use of suppressors in crimes.”