Sometimes players in an industry have to take on the role of evangelists in order to open up crowds of new customers. The suppressor market – an accessory category within the firearms industry – is one space that’s seen growth as people tune in to the benefits of making rifles, shotguns and pistols less noisy.

Also known as “silencers,” suppressors have been around since the early 1900s. Traditionally they are cylindrical devices filled with layers of metal baffles, or dividers, which slow the gases that escape a gun barrel when a bullet is fired and muffle the sound. Are they as quiet as often depicted in popular action films? No, but they do reduce the volume of a pistol, rifle or shotgun blast enough to protect the hearing of hunters and shooting enthusiasts, which may explain why suppressors have seen a surge recently despite critics’ arguments that quieter gunfire would benefit the criminal element.

Though it’s hard to find exact figures, Americans probably bought between 100,000 and 200,000 suppressors last year, according to industry insider estimates. In 2014 the number of such products registered by civilians with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms surpassed 571,000—that’s a 58% increase since 2012. Last year the number of people waiting to have their suppressor permits approved surpassed 80,000.

Liberty Suppressors – a small manufacturer based in Trenton, Georgia – has noticed the increase in interest. Founded in 2004 by husband-wife team David and Teresa Saylors, the 16-person company has enjoyed an average 2X growth every year of operation and David Saylors says the push to educate gun owners, coupled with the ease of research the internet provides, will continue to spur the market, which he says is vast and largely untapped given the number of gun owners in the country compared with the number of suppressors in circulation. “It’s immediately appealing to a person who fires firearms routinely at a practice range,” says Saylors. “Once they shoot a suppressed firearm, it’s so much more pleasant they don’t want to go back to unsuppressed guns.”

A silencer being used at NFA Class III Yooper Shoot. (image credit: Robert Emperley on Flickr)

Established companies in the firearms industry could get into the game more actively. Top tier suppressor firm, AAC, was acquired by Remington, and last year Switzerland-based gun maker Sig Sauer emerged with its own line of products after hiring AAC founder Kevin Brittingham, as well as designer Ethan Lessard, to spearhead their entrance into the space. According to Casey Foster, director of special projects for 22 year-old suppressor company GEMTECH, partnerships are likely the way larger firms in the industry will enter the market, rather than engineering their own designs from scratch. “I do not think that you’re going to see the majority of rifle manufacturers even attempt to get into this—it’s simply too complex.”

Working to educate consumers and legislators to the benefits of suppressor technology is the American Suppressor Association (ASA), the niche industry’s mouthpiece formed in 2011, made up of manufacturers, dealers and consumers. “In order to expand our market we have to break down a lot of misconceptions,” says Knox Williams, president of the organization. “For most people, their only exposure to suppressors is through Hollywood. They see it in the movies, they think they know what they sound like, they think they know how they function, they think they’re these tiny little gadgets that you can just put on any gun that will completely silence the firearm. That’s not the case at all.”

The ASA has connected to about 65 dealers nationwide to whom it sends educational material about suppressors. By the end of the year Williams says he expects to expand that network to 500. But informing sellers and consumers also takes hands on work. “A lot of it is just sheer exposure,” he said. “Hitting public events, taking people out and shooting with suppressors.”