VPC Can’t Back Claim That Silencers Pose “Threat To Public Safety”

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) has released a “study” claiming, “Silencers are military-bred accessories that make it easier for criminals to take innocent lives.” On the report’s cover, they used a photo of a newspaper headline about a murder—from 1915. 

However, Guns.com writes that ATF finds no evidence that any crimes were committed with registered NFA items (including suppressors) between 2006-2014. The website also analyzed the eight crimes involving suppressors VPC listed: No shot was fired in three of the cases; one serial killer used a homemade device; and two of the cases were in California, where suppressors are already banned. VPC demonstrates their alarm by featuring images from suppressor catalogs and a graph showing the rise in suppressor sales.

The VPC is a gun-control advocacy group, not an unbiased research firm, and their “studies” are never peer-reviewed. The correct term for this sort of “study” is “propaganda.”