Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is effectively the Democratic Party’s leading gun control spokesman, so you would think he would try to learn a single thing about the issue that so passionately motivates him.
Murphy decided to try and bring awareness to the “hidden rats” in the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” that passed the House on Thursday, with the first one being on his pet issue of gun control. “A hidden provision of the bill…wait for it…legalizes gun silencers!!” Murphy posted on X. “What?? So now criminals will be able to hide their crimes and police will lose the ability to respond to mass shootings. WTF.”
2/ A hidden provision of the bill…wait for it…legalizes gun silencers!! What?? So now criminals will be able to hide their crimes and police will lose the ability to respond to mass shootings. WTF.https://t.co/3mGSW7WBKD
— Chris Murphy
(@ChrisMurphyCT) May 20, 2025
Putting aside that he is a 51-year-old senator who is posting like he is a teenager, Murphy’s post is embarrassing for a couple of reasons. The first is that the bill does not “legalize gun silencers.” Silencers, more accurately called “suppressors,” are already legal. Nearly 5 million suppressors are registered in the United States. All the bill does is eliminate the registration and remove the $200 tax on them. You would still need to pass an FBI background check to purchase one.
The reason for that is that suppressors do not “silence” the gun. Suppressors reduce the sound of a gun to, at best, around 110-120 decibels. That is about the level of a chainsaw (120 dB) or a car horn from 3 feet away. That is louder than a jackhammer or a jet taking off from three football fields away. A decibel level of 120 dB is still painful, but unsuppressed gunshots can be around 150-170 decibels, which is enough to rupture an eardrum. That is why you always see people shooting at gun ranges while wearing protective earmuffs.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S CHRIS MURPHY PROBLEM
If Murphy thinks suppressors will make it so that “criminals will be able to hide their crimes and police will lose the ability to respond to mass shootings,” he is demonstrating that all his knowledge of guns comes from Hollywood. Murphy thinks that criminals will be able to walk through New York crowds firing off multiple gunshots without anyone ever noticing, like life is John Wick: Chapter 2.
Murphy has made the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the core of his political identity. He has had 13 years to learn about guns and gun accessories, and yet the extent of his knowledge appears to be from movies and television shows. No one is asking Murphy to be an expert in terminology and the nuances of firearms, but would it be too much to ask him at least to understand the things he wants to ban?