Were gun silencers used during the Old West era?
Ray Munkittrick
Chicopee, Massachusetts
The first silencer or suppressor was developed in 1902 (and patented seven years later) by Hiram P. Maxim, the son of the inventor of the Maxim Machine Gun. He came up with the idea as a way for hunters to shoot without making so much noise. It later became a weapon of choice for gangsters and mob hit men. So no, it was not an Old West tool.
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Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and the Wild West History Association’s vice president. His latest book is 2018’s Arizona Oddities: A Land of Anomalies and Tamales. Send your question, with your city/state of residence, to marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu or Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327.