Dave Matheny established Silencer Shop in 2010, at a time when suppressor sales were low and they were scarcely—if ever—seen on a hunter’s rifle. It doesn’t sound like ideal timing for a long-term business success, but he had another motivation.
“My son was born completely deaf in one ear and had great hearing in the other, so it was vitally important to me to protect the hearing that he did have,” Matheney explained in an e-mail. “I’m a big hunter and love being outdoors and getting the kids involved, so when he was old enough to start coming on hunts, I decided to buy a silencer to protect his hearing, kids at that age have a hard time keeping ear protection on and its uncomfortable so I thought a silencer would be the best option.”
Unfortunately, he explained the “…process to buy my first silencer was a nightmare and everything that could go wrong did go wrong, including the store closing up while my application was pending with the ATF. I had to do the paperwork myself, the dealer didn’t really know what was going on, he wasn’t much help, it just wasn’t a good experience at all.”
More than 90 percent of hunters do not wear hearing protection and nearly 40 percent of casual shooters make the same unhealthy choice, according to Matheny. “Hearing damage is cumulative and permanent, so it is very important to us to save shooters’ ears in a simple and easy way,” he emphasized. “The public perception of suppressors should be that they are safety equipment, they play a huge part in protecting shooters hearing in a non-obtrusive way.”
Establishing the Firm
He was working as a software engineer at the time and harnessed that knowledge to build a system that makes it easier and faster to own the hearing-healthy muzzle device. Silencer Shop was born out of that mission, and the company still stands behind its “Silencer Ownership Simplified” slogan to this day.
The company’s busier than ever. “It’s been crazy recently,” he said when asked about demand. “We’re seeing a bigger boom than we ever have. For context, when Silencer Shop was founded in 2010 there were about 285,000 silencers owned by American gun owners, now there are over 3.5 million.”
Reasons for the Sales Boom
Suppressors were included in the National Firearm Act of 1934. Under its terms, prospective owners must apply, go through a background check, get fingerprinted, secure permission from their area’s chief law enforcement officer and more. For decades—even after paperwork was properly filed—approval might arrive in a year. Meanwhile the owner, who paid in advance, was unable to take the suppressor home.
That’s no longer the case. When eForms arrived in 2021 “…we had the kiosk system and our processing software, which made it possible for anyone to quickly and easily submit electronically,” Matheny explained. “We handle everything from digital fingerprints to helping fill out the digital application, so it’s accurate and there aren’t clerical errors. And that whole process sped things up a lot, at first forms were taking a few months and averaged about six months, half the time of paper forms.”
It gets better. In 2024 the speed increased dramatically. “…[T]thousands of people are getting approved in less than a week, often in just a day or two,” he said. “It’s incredible, people are getting silencers really fast, there hasn’t been a better time to buy a silencer than right now.”
There’s still no guarantee a hunter could take legal possession of a hearing-healthy suppressor by opening day this year. The odds are better than ever, however.