Food for thought:
Saga continues over ATF denial of SIG 'muzzle device' (VIDEO) :: Guns.com
While the two parties are at a standstill, some gun rights advocates are hopeful that the legal conflict will help chip away at federal regulations governing silencers and eventually lead to a more direct path for consumers to buy one.
www.guns.com
"The item at the center of the case is the muzzle of the SIG MPX carbine. When SIG submitted it to the ATF for classification, the company described it as having a 9.5-inch muzzle brake welded onto a 6.5-inch barrel.
But the ATF saw it another way. The agency determined the muzzle to be a “monolithic baffle stack,” or what’s also used as the internal component for a silencer.
SIG fired back though. After a number of tests, the company proved that the muzzle did not reduce the noise of a gunshot, but actually intensified it. With the new evidence, the ATF re-considered but ultimately maintained its initial classification.
To ATF’s credit, when SIG introduced the MPX at a trade show in January 2013, company representatives explained that the muzzle could be transformed into a silencer if the user fitted a metal cover over it — of course, a buyer would also need to fulfill certain legal requirements to alter it."