Photo Copyright Guy J. Sagi
More Americans than ever before are voluntarily going through the additional background checks, securing chief law enforcement officer permission to qualify and pay for the tax stamp required to lawfully own a suppressor. But not everyone can afford the expense up front, especially when it will be months before ATF approves that application. That delay begs the question, can you finance a suppressor?
Silencer Central, established in March 2005, has an unusual and budget-friendly approach. I caught up to company CEO Brandon L. Maddox to find out more.
GJS—Correct me if I’m wrong, but you manufacture suppressors, sell them, as well as brands built by other companies, provide services to get the paperwork done and offer financing/storage until approved by BATFE?
BLM—Yes, we have full vertical integration. We are licensed in all 42 states where silencers are legal and function as the customer’s dealer, wholesaler, and manufacturer. Customers have a turnkey experience with one point of contact.
GJS—When and why did you start manufacturing suppressors?
BLM—In 2005 it became clear our customers were predominately hunters. The market was mostly occupied by “tactical” models that did not meet the needs our customers. Our customers demanded light weight, crazy quiet and user serviceable for cleaning on centerfire suppressors. In 2009, our volume was large enough to partner with larger firearms and military contractors to help meet the need of the hunter. We quickly realized light weight (100% titanium), crazy quiet, and user serviceable were highly sought after by all firearms enthusiasts, not just hunters.
GJS—In your mind is the tax stamp delay/processing time the biggest hurdle?
BLM— No one likes to pay in full upfront for anything, especially when there is a 10- to 12-month gap until they take possession. Hard to explain to the wife you spent a stack of cash on a suppressor and will not see it for a year. When I first started selling silencers, the wait time was only about 2 weeks. Honestly, we started offering eZ-pay (pay while you wait is what we call it internally) to help customers justify getting a better product that might cost more initially. Our products are 100% titanium and when you hold it, there is no question, you want it… The eZ-pay helped customers justify spending a little more and pay while they wait. There is no market for used suppressors, so once the customer realizes it is a lifetime purchase, they like the pay while you wait to upgrade their suppressor options. We have never charged any fees, we want the customer to know we are “in the boat with them,” we want their approval to go through quickly! Quick approval means less insurance on inventory in our vaults and testimonials that create referrals and repeat buyers.
GJS—You offer a kit, with video, that helps purchasers complete the paperwork, then send it to you for processing. Can you explain that to readers?
BLM—Yes, normally right after a purchase we send the customer their customized ATF paperwork and state specific gun trust via DocuSign to get the paperwork process behind us quickly. Next, we mail the customer fingerprint cards, a free t-shirt, and ink kit to do their fingerprints themselves and take a picture on their phone and email to use directly. Our process is 100% contactless. We even mail the approved silencer to the customer’s front door once ATF approves. Customer mails the fingerprint cards to us via the self-addressed envelope provided and we scan and keep on file for future purchases.
GJS—Is there any interest accrued for purchasers of suppressors who go through your payment plan?
BLM—No, our goal is to get as many firearms owners into the suppressor game as possible!
GJS—How popular is your “credit/payment” plan?
BLM—Our sales team says, our boss is going to carry your balance interest free, you would be dumb not to take him up on it. Sales and marketing are all about differentiating yourself, we are the only ones doing this and we are a well-oiled machine to handle. It took years to get processes in place to make this smoothness, we have nailed it.
GJS—How close is your working relationship with chief law enforcement officers?
BLM—I normally speak with ATF daily. We have locations in 42 states and have several active and pending variances with the ATF currently. Our variances allow us to utilize processes that make life easier for us, the customer, and for ATF to audit our operations. In 2016, Obama changed some of the federal regulations that dictate our compliance requirements. The paperwork we submit to the ATF for silencer transfers has to also be sent to the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO). The Gun Control Act (GCA) defines CLEO differently than the National Firearms Act (NFA) defines CLEO, so compliance in our world gets complicated quickly. We have worked with ATF to identify one contact per state for the CLEO notification and send notifications digitally in bulk to CLEO’s for efficacy.
GJS—Your staff handles all the paperwork for the tax stamp once the gun owner submits documents correctly to you?
BLM—Yes, we have two entire departments for the NFA paperwork. We have a front-end compliance team which handles all the paperwork and submits to ATF. Our back-end team handles all the paperwork after ATF approves, also manages the mailing of the approved silencer to the customer’s doorstep, coordinating through our 42 licensed locations.
GJS—Does that speed processing?
BLM—At one point, ATF said 65% of all applications received (from all dealers) contained errors and required sending an error letter to the dealer. Either the dealers pushed the paperwork onto the customer, or the dealer made clerical errors. We do find applications completed correctly flow through the NFA approval process more rapidly, benefit of working with a one-stop-shop that does everything in one place, single point of contact throughout the entire process.
GJS—Is there anything I overlooked that you would like to say to readers?
BLM—Silencers are all we do, we started small in South Dakota working gun shows. We gradually transitioned from a one state silencer dealer to a regional dealer licensed in all states that touch South Dakota. Working gun shows and having direct contact with the customer from the beginning to the end of the process for the last 15 years has provided us with an in-depth understanding of what the customer wants. Getting that direct feedback at events has greatly enhanced the growth of our company, we are now licensed in 42 states and employ over 80 W-2 employees. Our greatest strength is an unprecedented understanding of the compliance regulations impacting our customers and our business. We hire several law firms with expertise in firearms compliance to ensure our operations are beyond compliant. We owe this to our customers and employees to ensure we are beyond compliant at a state and federal level.
We offer barrel threading; we have an in-house machine shop. As noted, we offer no interest layaway (pay while you wait). We offer each customer a free state specific gun trust. And… we mail the approved silencer to your doorstep!
Can you finance a suppressor? Sure, through some credit card and banking firms, but they charge interest. Silencer Central’s approach is a different one, and it’s team won’t glare at you like loan officers do when you explain, “I want to buy a silencer.”
