Early suppressors were created around the beginning of the 20th century by a number of inventors. American inventor Hiram Percy Maxim is credited with inventing and selling the first commercially successful models circa 1902. Maxim called his device under the trademark Maxim Silencer. Later this device would be adapted to internal combustion engines to generate the muffler, which is still called a silencer in the UK. The term silencer has since fallen out of favor among the firearms industry, being replaced with the more accurate term sound suppressor or just suppressor.
In the United States, it is legal for an individual to possess and use a suppressor; however, one must go through the National Firearms Act process administered by the BATFE in order to do so. Such transfers also require a federal tax payment of two hundred dollars and a thorough background check. Some states go further, and explicitly ban any civilian possession of suppressors.
