Silencers, also called suppressors, are tube-shaped devices that, when screwed into the muzzle of a gun, slow the decompression of gases that propel a bullet forward, thus reducing the “pop” sound of ...

In 2019, a gunman shot and killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building. His semiautomatic weapon was fitted with a silencer, making the gunshots sound, to one survivor, “like a nail gun.” ...