Did you hear something? Hunting with silencers will soon be legal in Alabama [View all]

[AScott]

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The next hunting season might be a little bit more quiet than the last. Last week, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Board voted unanimously to allow hunting with silencers in the state. According to the National Rifle Association, more than 30 states already allow hunting with silencers, or as they're also called, suppressors.

According to Fred Harders, the assistant director of wildlife and freshwater fisheries for the state Department of Conservation, the board decided that the benefits to allowing silencers outweighed the cons. "When someone is hunting around an urban area, it will allow that to take place without bothering people nearby," Harders said. "And it can help with damage to the ear, especially with young people."

The effectiveness of a silencer depends greatly on the gun and the type of ammunition. While the silencer suppresses the explosion of the powder, it does nothing for the sound of a bullet breaking the sound barrier after it leaves the barrel. A silencer used with sub-sonic ammunition can make as little sound as a pellet gun, while higher velocity rounds can still make a lot of noise.

The new rules will go into effect later this year, before the fall hunting seasons, Harders said. But just because the ban on silencers for hunting has been lifted, that doesn't mean everyone will have easy access to them. Buying a silencer requires a lengthy, expensive approval process and lots of paperwork. "What some people don't realize is that it is not that easy to get approval to buy suppressors," Harders said. "There is a pretty good bit of paper work and a lengthy wait before the federal authorities will let you have one."

http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/05/did_you_hear_something_hunting.html