There are times when you may want to put a silencer or silencing device on an airgun for practical purposes, such as quiet backyard plinking that won’t alert your neighbors. So you may be wondering, can you make a silencer and install it on your airgun? Here’s the deal, airgun silencing devices are not illegal per se, but it’s a dangerously fine line that could land you in trouble with the law if you are not careful! It is legal to purchase an airgun that has a silencer to silencing technology that is already built into the airgun.
According to the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) though, if the silencing device is not an integral part of the gun and can be removed it may be considered an illegal device. Any attempt to install such a device may result in fines and possible jail time if caught unless you have a tax stamp on the device.
So what does the may mean exactly? The ATF is mainly concerned that a silencing device could be transferred to an actual firearm in attempts to reduce its report. So while you technically put a legal silencer, moderator or suppressor on your airgun, who is the one that makes the distinction it’s only for an airgun and not an actual firearm? This is were the law becomes a bit murky. What you may think is perfectly acceptable, the ATF may not. Our recommendation is use extreme caution when attempting to reduced the report of your airgun with a noise moderating device.
If however you purchased an airgun that has a built on silencer or silencing device, you are perfectly within the law. Just make sure you never try to remove in an attempt to fashion it onto an actual firearm!