The Associated Press
HIAWATHA, Iowa (AP) - Some eastern Iowa law enforcement officials are testing the use of silencers on assault rifles as a way to keep gunfire from tripping explosive fumes inside methamphetamine labs during drug busts.
In eastern Iowa during the last federal fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, police discovered a record 176 meth labs and meth dump sites, according to Drug Enforcement Administration records. That beat the previous year’s all-time high of 146.
The suppressors, which also can save officers’ hearing when they fire inside of buildings, first began being used in California after an officer lost some hearing during an incident inside a building, said Assistant Hiawatha Police Chief Mark Tope.
He said suppressors also would allow an officer to fire without being detected as easily by his or her target.
Tope, who has been researching suppressors, said they don’t eliminate all of the noise from the rifle - but reduce it by about 70 percent.
“Everything you see in the movies and on 007 is not real,” he said. “You are still going to hear it.”
Tope and Chief Rick Pierce attended a recent suppressor presentation at the Cedar Rapids police shooting range. They said their department is looking to buy rifles and the suppressors to go with them. Cedar Rapids officials have no current plans to use suppressors.
The suppressor adds 17 ounces and less than four inches to a rifle, but can cost about $700 - almost as much as a new rifle.
Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said the suppressor’s price must be weighed against its need.
“My philosophy has been that the price often goes down, and that if you are not in dire need of obtaining something like this it’s better to wait,” he said.