WASHINGTON — What the average person knows about silencers likely comes from James Bond and the “Bourne’’ movies —stealthy assassins holding up cylinder-tipped pistols and shooting their victims with nary a sound.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 subjected silencers to heavy and (at the time) unaffordable regulation, in an effort to deprive Al Capone-era gangsters of a favored murder accessory.

But as part of a legislative strategy switch from defense to offense, groups such as the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation are including a rollback of silencer regulations on its wish list in the era of gun-friendly GOP control of Congress and the White House.

Also included is the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would enable anyone legally carrying firearms in gun-rights states such as Texas and Florida to get protection of those loose laws even when during travel to gun-unfriendly jurisdictions such as Connecticut.

The concealed-carry reciprocity measure is a perennial that never got through Congress in previous years, and surely would’ve earned a Barack Obama veto if it had.

All states, including Connecticut, permit concealed carry in some form, although Connecticut makes it much more difficult to obtain a permit than, say, the Southern states.

“These proposals will put all our communities at risk,’’ said Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., a leading gun-violence-prevention advocate among Democrats in the House.

Hearing Protection Act

New legislation has proposed changes for the way you purchase a gun suppressor and the Hearing Protection Act looks to remove regulations helping to get a suppressor in your hands quicker.

When it comes to purchasing a suppressor for your gun it can be quite the process and time consuming.

Under the National Firearms Act, you have to fill out extensive paperwork including an application to the ATF, pay a $200 tax and pass a background check which all can take up to eight months, but the proposed Hearing Protection Act looks to treat suppressors as firearms requiring you to just pass a background check.

We spoke with the Bill’s Gun Shop and Range General Manager who believes if this bill passes it will give more gun owners the option of using an accessory with health benefits.

“You know there is potential for hearing loss just because they are so loud and the Hearing Protection Act would allow suppressors to be more easily accessible and people would be able to put those on the guns and just lower the decibel rating the gun actually makes,” explains Brent Brattlof.

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