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How Silencer Central Pioneered Ship-To-Your-Front-Door Service
Did you know that Silencer Central is the original Ship-To-Your-Front-Door suppressor retailer? Yes, it is true. We did it first and we still do it best. How did this service come to be? Like so many things in human history, necessity was the mother of innovation.
How it started...
As many of you know, Brandon Maddox started South Dakota Silencer in 2005, which became Dakota Silencer, and in 2019, grew to become Silencer Central. The company started out just doing hunting and firearm shows, mostly around South Dakota. By 2009, Maddox and the company ran into a major consumer obstacle. Customers that purchased a suppressor at the Rapid City, SD gun show stated they did not want to drive over five hours to Sioux Falls to pick up the silencer once they received ATF approval. At the time, the company was only doing one show per year in the Western part of the state. They could do transfers at the gun show, but if the customer wanted it sooner, the only way to do that was to travel to Sioux Falls.
Maddox, who started the company as a way to make owning a silencer easier, started thinking it would just be easier if they could ship the suppressor to the customers themselves. He hired a local attorney to research ways to ship a silencer once approved, to see what options they might have. The attorney told Maddox that it was likely impossible, but he was willing to research the idea, and he would get back to Maddox with his findings.
Working with the ATF
The results from the attorney came in 2010 when Maddox received a formal legal opinion on a federal statute that allowed the shipping of a silencer when a background check was not required. This was called a non-over-the-counter transfer. This is where it got tricky.
The federal statute is 18 U.S.C. 922(c). If you want to read through it, there is a clear version available on the Cornell Law School website. This statute requires dealers to use a form that the ATF no longer had in print – Form 4473 Part 2. Maddox went looking for this form and found the final printed version came from 2008. After that, it was not available. How could a company legally offer a service if the necessary paperwork wasn’t available?
Maddox reached out directly to the ATF in August 2011, to ask how the company could comply with 18 U.S.C. 922 if the required form 4473 Part 2 was no longer in print and out of use. What happened next came as a bit of surprise.
In 2012, Maddox received the first ATF-approved variance to utilize the current 4473 to complete non-over-the-counter transfers. A 4473 is what you complete whenever you transfer a firearm at your local FFL. With the variance, Dakota Silencer could ship suppressors through a local FFL holder, where customers could either pick the silencer up from, or have the FFL ship it within the state to the buyer. In other words, he did all the heavy lifting and was the first and, at that time, only retailer allowed to ship suppressors to FFLs for customers.
In 2013, ATF made Maddox’s approved variance an ATF Ruling 2013-2 part of policy so all licensed dealers could follow the process. To the competition, well, you’re welcome. The ATF ruling was reissued as 2020-1 when the 4473 form was updated in 2019.
How things evolved
Since a suppressor is not a firearm, once it is transferred to an FFL in the state where the purchaser resides, that FFL holder can ship it to the buyer’s front door. Silencer Central currently employs licenses FFLs in all of the 42 states where suppressor ownership is legal. This is how the company can ship to your home. You don’t have to go anywhere – we bring your silencer to you. It was an integral part of Maddox’s vision for concierge service.
This is what you get from Silencer Central:
- The largest in-stock inventory of suppressors anywhere.
- Competitive pricing on suppressors from all of the top brands (and a team working every day to get better pricing from manufacturers to pass the savings to you).
- A dedicated customer service team that walks you through the entire paperwork process, reducing the chances of a rejection due to a form issue.
- A 100% free trust service that provides you with everything you need to have a legal trust established for your suppressors.
- Complete access to your progress through the approval process through services like the online customer portal.
- A team working hard to further streamline the process to get your silencer to you faster.
- An interest-free EZ-Pay payment plan with 2 and 4-payment options.
- A company working to open more states to suppressor ownership and to protect your rights in Washington.
- A company that is dedicated to conservation and your freedoms.
- And, of course, having your silencer delivered to your door!
Brandon Maddox and Silencer Central truly pioneered the shipped-to-your-door silencer service, starting in 2009. The team has effectively scaled the process to where they can process over 1,000 e-forms per hour and ship thousands of silencers daily.
Recognition
It sure is nice when the hunting and shooting sports communities recognize your efforts. Maddox and Silencer Central have been the leaders in suppressor sales for a long time now. In 2024, Silencer Central was recognized by the NRA with their Pioneer Award for innovation in getting people the silencers they want delivered to their door and making silencers more accessible to all. Then again in 2025 Silencer Central won the National Wild Turkey Federations' Innovation Award for this business model and scaling it to provide greater access to silencers for hunting and the overall shooting sports.
Delivered by Silencer Central
In a new twist, Silencer Central kicked off a new service to select retail partners in 2025. The Delivered by Silencer Central program allows people to shop online on some of the top websites, such as Guns.com, Sportsman’s Warehouse, and more.
On these sites, you can buy select suppressors and when it comes time to complete the paperwork, you get directed to Silencer Central, who then provides the same services you’d get if you bought direct, including having your suppressor delivered to your door. How cool is that? And more retail partners are being added all the time, giving you greater buying flexibility.
We work for you!
If you can’t tell by now, everything that Silencer Central does revolves around one thing – your satisfaction. Brandon Maddox started the company on the premise that it should be easier for people to be able to buy a suppressor. Every innovation that has come along has been done to make things better and easier for you to do just that. The competition may try to claim otherwise, but your satisfaction means everything to the company, and shipping you your suppressor right to your front door is a big part of that.
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