I Bought Two Silencers
Here is a chronicle of the process
I have long been interested in owning a silencer/suppressor — especially to use for my Sociology of Guns class field trip to the range — but the process seemed so long and cumbersome that I never got around to doing it. Recently, I have been hearing a lot about how much easier companies like Silencer Shop, Silencer Co., and Silencer Central make the process.
A couple of months ago, my friend John Richardson invited me and Sandy to be his guests at a banquet for the Carolinas branch of the Dallas Safari Club. Silencer Central donated suppressor certificates for the raffle and the silent auction. I won both.
Following is a recap of the entire process of acquiring the silencers, start to finish.
TLDR: I began the process of redeeming the certificates on March 27th. 34 days later, FedEx delivered two silencers to my doorstep. The total amount of time I spent actively working on the process was 155 minutes (two hours and 35 minutes).
Thursday, March 27, 2025
I called Silencer Central this morning to redeem the certificates I won. Customer service rep Mike took my call and began gathering the information necessary to get the ball rolling.
The certificates I won were for the SoLo 22, a .22 LR suppressor valued at $345. I was able to use the value of those certificates for other silencers, which I did.
15 minutes and $1,638 later, I had begun the process of acquiring a Banish 30 and a Banish 9K silencer.
It appears everything can be done electronically with the exception of a fingerprint card that Silencer Central is mailing to me and that I need to return to them.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 15 minutes
Friday, March 27, 2025
Thus far, Silencer Central has made the process exceedingly easy, if not simple (given the complexity involved in buying an item that is regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934).
They communicate what I need to be doing both by email and text, and I have access to a customer portal on their website that shows me everything I have done and need to do.
Today I spent about 10 minutes completing my profile on the Silencer Central website.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 25 minutes
Sunday, March 30, 2025
By text and email Silencer Central reminded me to upload a passport-style photo for my eForm 4 and to electronically sign some documents using SnapSign.
I spent about 15 minutes reading and electronically signing the National Firearms Act Responsible Person Questionnaire (one for each of the two silencers), The Yamane Trust that Silencer Central created for me, and the Silencer Central terms and conditions.
I had my wife take a headshot photo of me to submit and hopefully that will be acceptable in lieu of a professional passport photo.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 40 minutes
Monday, March 31, 2025
I neglected to read the instructions closely, so the passport-style photo I submitted to Silencer Central for my ATF Form 4 was rejected because I was wearing glasses. I took a new photo and uploaded it to the customer portal. It was accepted after review.
Received two fingerprint cards and instructions on completing them from Silencer Central (along with a t-shirt that I cut when opening the package!).
I studied the instructions and I’m very nervous about getting the prints done correctly and thinking about finding a law enforcement officer to help me do them. With my photo error fresh in my mind, I am worried about slowing the process down by doing it wrong.
Spent about 20 minutes working on this today.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 60 minutes
Friday, April 3, 2025
I’ve been busy with class and book clubs this week, so only today got around to doing my two fingerprint cards. Again not following the instructions closely, I completed my written sections (indicated in the instructions above) in BLUE ink. Sandy noticed this and I had to write over everything in BLACK ink. I will be interested to see if the cards are rejected because of this.
I had planned to have Sandy do the fingerprinting, but after some practicing we determined that my hand was no cooperating with her controls — and she probably wisely determined there was nothing to be gained by her doing the prints, in case anything went wrong. So, I did the prints myself. They look OK, but not as clean as in the example I was sent. As with the ink color, I will be interested to see if these prints are deemed acceptable.
I will stop by the post office later today and mail them back in the postage-paid envelope Silencer Central sent with the cards.
I also used a link Silencer Central sent me to go to the U.S. Department of Justice ATF website to obtain a username and PIN for the e-Form I will be submitting.
I spent about 50 minutes working on this today.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 110 minutes
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Silencer Central confirmed receipt of my fingerprints and requested I schedule an appointment to certify my ATF forms. I clicked through to their website and was able to schedule an appointment for Thursday, April 10th.
I spent about 10 minutes working on this today.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 120 minutes
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Gavin from Silencer Central called me right at the scheduled time and walked me through the certification of the eForms that would be submitted to the ATF for my two suppressors.
He shared his computer screen with me and had me review the accuracy of my information. He turned the screen over to me so I could check a box verifying the accuracy of the information and also to enter the ATF eForm account username and pin number I had established earlier.
We did this twice, one for each of the two suppressors, taking 10 minutes total to complete the process.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 130 minutes.
With my application submitted to the ATF, now I just have to wait for their approval so Silencer Central can ship my two suppressors to me. In my dashboard there is a link to check current approval wait times, presumably based on Silencer Central’s data. It looks like the wait time should be a little under a month for my Electronic Form 4 Trust.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
I received emails from both the ATF and Silencer Central informing me that my ATF Form 4 (5320.4) - Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm was APPROVED for both silencers.
According to Silencer Central, “The hard part’s over—but your order isn’t on its way just yet.” Here’s what’s next:
Before we can ship your silencer(s) to you, you need to complete and sign the ATF form 4473. You will receive a separate email with a link to complete this form digitally. Once we receive your information, you will be sent a signature request within 1-2 business days.
Then, we are required to notify your local law enforcement agency that we are shipping your silencer(s) to you.
Finally, after confirmation they have received our notification by certified mail, we must wait 7 days before we can ship to you. You will receive shipping notifications with tracking information once shipped. Adult signature will be required at the time of delivery.
The Silencer Central customer portal walked me through all of the parts of the ATF for 4473 I needed to complete. I had a question about a “UPIN” that was requested and was able to use the website’s chat function to answer that question quickly.
It took me 20 minutes to complete this step.
Later that evening I received an email from Silencer Central with a link to SnapSign to electronically sign my Form 4473. Took me 2 minutes.
TOTAL TIME TO DATE: 152 minutes.
Tuesday, April 16, 2025
A federally required notification was sent to and acknowledged by the chief law enforcement officer in my jurisdiction in North Carolina. Silencer Central must now wait seven business days before they can ship my order to their licensed location in NC.
TOTAL TIME SPENT: Still 152 minutes.
TOTAL DAYS IN PROCESS: 20 days
Tuesday, April 23, 2025
Silencer Central can now ship my suppressors to their licensed location in NC. From there, it will be shipped to my doorstep. Hopefully, someone will be home to sign for it!
TOTAL TIME SPENT: Still 152 minutes.
TOTAL DAYS IN PROCESS: 27 days
Tuesday, April 30, 2025
Deliveries marked Adult Signature Required are always a challenge. Of course, FedEx’s delivery window today overlapped with my being on campus in Winston-Salem. I was preparing to race home in case the delivery was late when I saw on our home security camera that Sandy got home from work early and could sign for the package. She had gone down to her parents’ house when I reached her. I told her to get back to our house lickety-split. She drove up just as the FedEx driver was walking back to his truck, box in hand. She signed for it and I took a few minutes to unbox the silencers.
TOTAL TIME SPENT: 155 minutes.
TOTAL DAYS IN PROCESS: 34
"It appears everything can be done electronically with the exception of a fingerprint card that Silencer Central is mailing to me and that I need to return to them."
it can be even better than that, my last silencer purchase was at a store with a silencership kiosk that could electronically take and submit fingerprints right there.
Thank you for the documentation and time commitment walk-through.
Not all that easy, but not that bad for an NFA item.