Texas continues to lead the way in gun silencer sales ... [View All]

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Posted Thursday, Dec. 02, 2010

Glen Furtardo knows a good buy when he sees one.

He says that's why he has several silencers in his gun collection. "They don't lose value," said Furtardo, manager at the Winchester Gallery gun store in east Fort Worth. "It's a good investment."

http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2010/12/02/23/1203_silencers_metro.ART0_G5M16GOIQ.1+silencer_jump.standalone.prod_affiliate.58.jpg

Nationwide, more than 22,000 of these noise suppressors were sold this year -- 9 percent more than last year -- and the most were sold in Texas for at least the third year in a row, according to statistics released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

In Texas, 3,621 silencers were sold in fiscal 2010, ahead of 2,053 in Florida and 1,153 in Georgia, the data show.

"People just want them," Furtardo said. "It's like tattoos. ... They have come out of the closet. Now everyone gets them."

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Some people take their silencers to shooting ranges. Others might take them to "machine gun shoots," where gun lovers gather to fire at targets. Still more might keep a silencer on their handgun or rifle at home to help with "varmint" control -- shooting coyotes, skunks or snakes.

"The only use I can think of for a silencer is if you are hunting hogs and have 15 to 20 hogs at a feeder," said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a former state senator who shepherded conceal-carry legislation in 1995. "That's a practical use if you want to shoot one without scaring others off.

"Or maybe if you're getting rid of squirrels in your back yard," said Patterson, who always carries a gun but does not have a silencer.

It's more than that, Irwin said.

"Ninety percent of the people who buy them just think they are so cool," Irwin said. "This is Texas."
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/12/02/2676281/texas-continues-to-lead-the-way.html

edited to fix link