HOW TO BUY A SUPPRESSOR (IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!)
July 14, 2026
If you’re new to the world of suppressors, then you might think that buying one is complicated, scary, and time-consuming. With a little bit of research and help from the right dealer, you’ll see that the purchase isn’t complicated, it’s far from scary, and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
While the idea of buying a Federally-registered gun accessory might be intimidating, it can be quite simple when you work with folks who know what they’re doing. In all actuality, it’s not that much different than buying a gun from a dealer.
Here at Silencer Central, it’s in our best interest to make sure you have the smoothest purchasing experience possible, so we bend over backward to get that silencer to you as smoothly as possible.
SUPPRESSOR LAWS: ARE SUPPRESSORS LEGAL IN MY STATE?
Currently, 42 states allow silencer ownership and 41 of them allow silencers for hunting. You probably already know that hunting with a silencer helps protect your hearing and reduces noise pollution, and fortunately, odds are that hunting with a silencer is legal in your state!
If you are in a state that allows silencer ownership, what’s the next step? It’s simple, really - If you can legally own a gun, you can also own a silencer. Ready to get started? Let's go!
IN WHICH STATES ARE SUPPRESSORS LEGAL?
There are 42 out of 50 states where you can own a suppressor, which means that people living in 84% of the United States are able to own a suppressor. The odds are definitely in your favor, but we can’t forget about the unfortunate other 16% of the population. The eight prohibited states for suppressor ownership include California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. (They’re also illegal in the District of Columbia, which isn’t a state.) We continue to try and work for you in these states, and will keep you posted of any developments.
WHERE IS IT LEGAL TO HUNT WITH A SUPPRESSOR?
Hunting is legal in 41 of the 42 states where suppressors are legal. If you’re a hunter and a suppressor owner in Connecticut, I’ve got some bad news. You live in the only state where you can own a suppressor but not hunt with one.
Fortunately, the attitude toward the use of suppressors while hunting has been changing in a good way. Since 2011, 19 states have legalized hunting with a suppressor. Hopefully, the last state will follow suit.
HOW TO BUY A SUPPRESSOR: A STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS
Buying a silencer with the help of Silencer Central is easy! Let’s walk through each of the necessary steps first so that you’ll know what to do when it comes time to make your first suppressor purchase.
FIND THE RIGHT SUPPRESSOR FOR YOUR NEEDS
Variety is the spice of life, and the suppressor life is spicy! As suppressors have become more popular and accepted by mainstream gun culture, the number of available options has expanded greatly. Whatever type of silencer you are interested in, Silencer Central has a top-notch team who know suppressors forwards and backward. Don’t hesitate to reach out by phone or email and someone on staff will be happy to answer any and all of your questions and help you pick the perfect silencer.
CALL OR BUY ONLINE
Whether you prefer to do the whole process online or talk to a person while you work your way through it, we’re here to help. You can fill out pretty much everything you’ll need to get started on your own online, but we know that you might have some questions. In that case, you can ask us online through the chat feature or just give us a call on the phone and we’ll be happy to go through it with you that way as well.
Apply for A FEDERAL STAMP
You will need a Tax Stamp, even though the cost has disappeared. The process remains and you will need one before you can move along any further.
SUBMIT OR EFILE THE NECESSARY PAPERWORK
One of the biggest bottlenecks in the old process was the physical submission of the ATF Form 4473 to local sheriffs. That meant certified mail, added delays, and more waiting for something that shouldn’ttake that long in the first place.
Now, Silencer Central has moved that step into the digital world. Instead of relying on the postal system, forms are submitted instantly. No lost mail, no lag time—just immediate delivery where it needs to go. It’s a simple change on paper, but in practice, it shaves serious time off the process.
Digital fingerprints are now accepted!
Fingerprinting has always been part of the process, but Silencer Central has modernized that step, too. With the ability to upload EFT (Electronic Fingerprint Transmission) files, customers who get their prints done digitally at a local provider can plug them straight into the system. That cuts down processing time and eliminates another layer of friction.
It’s one of those upgrades that just makes sense—using technology that already exists to make a required step quicker and easier.
Want to break up the cost into payments?
At Silencer Central, we firmly believe in simplifying the suppressor buying process. This helps you get the suppressor you want with as few headaches as possible and in the shortest amount of time. One of the things we have done to help you further is by partnering with 4 pay by Sezzle, giving you payment flexibility. This gives you an option to get your suppressor faster with plans that fit your budget.
HAVE YOUR rifle BARREL THREADED BY A FULL-TIME GUNSMITH
Don't have a threaded barrel on the firearm you want to use your silencer on? We offer a unique barrel threading service where you can ship the gun directly to us, or drop it off at any gun show we attend. Simply strip your rifle down to a barreled action for easy handling, and we’ll do the rest.
We want to make sure getting your barrel threaded is as easy and painless as possible, so we’ve put a lot of time and energy into making our barrel threading program the best in the country. Even if you didn’t buy a silencer from us, we are happy to thread your barrel because every gun owner deserves the best for their rifle.
GET YOUR SUPPRESSOR SHIPPED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR
This is one of the best benefits of buying your new suppressor from Silencer Central. We have FFLs set up in all 42 states where suppressors are legal to own and use. Once your approved form and stamp come back to us from the ATF, through our FFL in your state, we will ship your suppressor right to your front door.
That’s not a turn of phrase or some kind of marketing gimmick – it’s 100% true. We will ship your suppressor right to you!
NFA TRUST VS. INDIVIDUAL filing – WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?
Due to popular demand, we have added the option to submit your eForm 4 to the ATF as an individual or as a trust. You are given the opportunity to select from both during checkout. There are several pros and cons to each, but the main thing to keep in mind is this - Individual filing offers speed of approval, while the trust offers more flexibility for you. We understand that this can be a harder decision. Of course, we want you to be completely informed and comfortable, so we added a lot of information laying out both in a separate post.
All of the information that is needed to purchase your suppressor – your name, pertinent info, address, make, model, and serial number of the suppressor, etc. – is also needed to register your suppressor with an NFA gun trust. Since we have all of that information from you to facilitate the purchase, we can easily use that information to create your free NFA gun trust.
While we obviously prefer the trust option, so much so that we made it a free service we offer, you don’t have to use it. You can also file as an individual or even as a corporation. There are benefits and drawbacks to each of the three options, so if you’re not sure, give us a call and we can figure out what is best for your specific situation. That said, 99.5% of our customers end up using our free gun trust. It is entirely up to you.
HOW DO GUN TRUSTS WORK?
Buying a suppressor in the name of a gun trust is very popular, and comes with a number of advantages. It gives you options for how you use your suppressor and peace of mind.
Each person on the trust may possess the silencer. That means you can let your spouse, family member, or even a trusted friend use the silencer without added paperwork or needing to be in your presence. If you filed as an individual, you must be present when anyone else uses your silencer, which can be a pain.
Just because a gun trust is a legal document doesn’t mean your decisions are final and locked in forever. You can change the trust anytime you need to – without letting the BATFE know. This lets you add or remove people at your leisure.
Once you form a trust, you can use it again and again when buying other silencers or NFA items. Trusts make legacy planning easy. Just add the person you want to inherit the silencer to your trust.
How does filing as an individual work?
It does simplify things a little, due to less paperwork being involved. Like we said, you simply select individual during checkout and we take it from there. Because the ATF is super-fast on turnaround time for approvals right now, you will likely get your suppressor much faster with an individual application. If you have succession planning for firearms in your will, depending upon wording, a trust may be redundant. Unless you set it up with us as part of our free service during the purchase process, trusts can be expensive, too. If you didn’t want to spend to create a trust in addition to the costs of the tax stamp and the suppressor purchase price, an individual application may be very appealing.
The downfall to individual filing is losing the flexibility to say who can use your suppressor. You suppressor has to be in your possession, so loaning one to a buddy means you have to be with it all of the time. If you want to add your silencer(s) to a trust in the future, it will require a new Form 4 and an additional $200 tax stamp per silencer.
READY TO BUY?
At Silencer Central, we are passionate about compliance, knowledge, and community education in firearm sound suppression. With more than 15 years’ experience in the industry, we are the nation’s largest silencer dealer. We’re also the only one licensed in all 42 suppressor-legal states that can sell, process, and ship your new suppressor directly to your front door.
Like all things in life, there’s always something more to learn. Hopefully, the information in this article helped answer a lot of your questions. Of course, it’s also possible that it brought some new questions to mind that you hadn’t thought of before. Or, we might have overlooked your question altogether. Whatever the case, we’re here to answer any and all of your questions.
Buying a suppressor doesn’t take long at all. It’s fairly simple to fill out all of the forms and paperwork, submit your fingerprints and photo, etc. Getting approval for your suppressor from the ATF after you buy it, however, takes a lot less time than it used to!.
Getting a Federal stamp is an easy and automatic part of the buying process since your approved forms from the ATF cannot be completed without getting the stamp. They cost nothing these days and are part of the process when you buy from us or any other dealer.
By now, you know that the whole “buy a gun online” thing the way it’s portrayed in the media is 100% false. Still, you can buy guns online. In that same vein, you can buy a suppressor online. You can even fill out all of the paperwork online, too. However, the purchase is still governed by the NFA branch of the ATF, so it’s not like you can just add it to your cart and have it sent to you by next-day delivery.
Hunting is legal in 41 of the 42 states where suppressors are legal, and there are a lot of reasons why you should hunt with one so long as it’s legal for you to do so. The one where you can own but not hunt with a suppressor is Connecticut.
The short answer is yes, you can use one silencer for multiple firearms. However, different suppressors are rated for different calibers, so be sure to read the description of the suppressor before you shoot the wrong caliber through your silencer. Not only can you damage the silencer and your gun, but you can also hurt yourself that way.
Believe it or not, there really is no such thing as a “Class 3 License.” That term is derived from a Class 3 SOT, which is part of the licensing you need in order to sell a suppressor. So, no, you don’t need a Class 3 License to purchase a suppressor.
This is one of the coolest benefits of buying a suppressor from Silencer Central. You no longer need to run down to the gun shop to pick up your approved suppressor. With Silencer Central, your suppressor will come right to you! We can do this because we have FFLs set up in every state where suppressors are legal. Once all of the approval forms come back to us, we will ship your suppressor right to your front door.
While many suppressors can be used on several different caliber firearms, we have some specific models that can make your shooting more enjoyable. Pick the caliber that you have in mind. If you don’t see your caliber, pick one close to it to see our recommendations.
