Hiram P. Maxim was the son of United States born inventor
Hiram Stevens Maxim, who brought us the first portable fully
automatic machine gun. Hiram P. Maxim, a mechanical engineer,
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He was a pioneer in ham radio technology and automobiles, and
he worked in several other industries before he formed the Maxim
Silencer Company in 1908. As an outdoorsman, a hunter, and
target shooter, Maxim had an idea come to him as he was shooting
near neighbors and was sensitive to their peace and quiet. He
developed a fairly effective silencer that was largely popular and
sold commercially in local hardware stores for $3.25 per unit.
Maxim coined the term “silencer” by including the word in the
name of his business; however there was never been such things as
a literal silencer. Firearms suppressors have been noted as sound
suppressors, sound moderators, mufflers, silencers, and the slang
term, “cans”.
In the early 1900’s law enforcement agencies, fearing that
organized crime syndicates would start using silencers, machine
guns, and hand grenades in their escapades, started looking for
ways to ban such items. Then U.S. Attorney General, Homer C.
Cummings, recognized that firearms could not be banned outright
under the second amendment, so he proposed restrictive regulation
in the form of an expensive tax and Federal registration. Short
barreled rifles and short barrel shotguns were also regulated by this
act of congress since the ability to easily conceal them made law
enforcement agencies nervous.
In 1934, the National Firearms Act was approved and passed
by
Congress, and the expensive tax of $200 was set on any legal
purchase of the certain items listed in the bill. At that time, $200
was far more expensive than any item that was purchased, making
it almost impossible for a citizen with an average income to acquire.
This act of Congress (which many
gun enthusiasts find aggravating) restricts
the following: a shotgun having a barrel
of less than eighteen inches; a rifle having
a barrel length less than sixteen inches; or
any other weapon, other than a pistol or
revolver, from which a shot is discharged
by an explosive if such weapon is capable
of being concealed on the person; or a
machine gun. This act also restricts a muffler
or silencer for any firearm, whether or not
such a firearm is included in the foregoing
definition. The NFA branch of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(BATF), or commonly known as the ATF),
regulates the registration and restrictions
of such items and classifies a silencer,
suppressor, muffler, or moderator as a
device that decreases the sound signature of
a weapon.
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