Estimated studying time: 11 minutes
With SHOT Present 2026 across the nook, we hint Brandon Maddox’s winding path from prairie canines to podiums, the FedEx combat, and the way $0 tax stamps reshape the suppressor sport.
SHOT Present Is Coming, And Brandon Maddox Is Taking The Mic
As the brand new yr begins, gun lovers put together for SHOT Present 2026, now simply two weeks away. The lineups of exhibitors and seminars have one thing for everybody, however it obtained me considering, who’re these individuals we see on the gun reveals? How did they get right here? Brandon Maddox, founder and CEO of Silencer Central, leads in the present day’s suppressor trade and can communicate at SHOT Present for the primary time.
I obtained to take a seat down and discuss to Brandon Maddox about what obtained him up to now. The path Maddox took to the place he’s in the present day is windy and took some sudden turns.
From Snake Shot To Spark: The First Set off Pull
Maddox didn’t bounce straight into the firearms and silencer world. Rising up within the metropolis, Maddox realized about weapons throughout visits to his uncle and grandfather in rural Alabama.
In the course of the summers, they took Maddox searching, the place he shot his first snake at age six with a .410 shotgun.
“Fairly excited to kill a snake… form of obtained me addicted,” Maddox stated.
As fascinated as he was with searching, weapons weren’t a big a part of his youthful life. The one weapons in the home have been hand-me-downs and items from his grandfather. Till properly into his grownup years, this remained his major publicity.
Pharmacy To Prairie Canines: The Perspective Shift
Maddox leaned into the household career and studied to be a pharmacist. He constructed his approach up the ladder and made it to a advertising and marketing govt position in a big firm. Maddox later moved his household to South Dakota, the place his in-laws additionally labored in prescription drugs..
Right here, Maddox leaned into a brand new facet of himself. “My spouse’s household, you understand, after Thanksgiving lunch, we’d exit to the gun vary and shoot,” Maddox stated.
His curiosity in searching grew, and prairie canine searching quickly grew to become a favourite pastime.
It was at this level that Maddox started studying about silencers. He liked the concept of searching, however the first two occasions he went to purchase a suppressor at a neighborhood store, the expertise was not optimum.
“I form of felt like they have been virtually form of attacking me for not being a gun man at this gun store,” Maddox stated.
Dwelling FFL Or Bust: Studying The Exhausting Method
After talking together with his father-in-law, Maddox determined to acquire his personal FFL earlier than shopping for one other suppressor.
“Seeing the advantages of him having the ability to get ammo and rifles and scopes and entry to the whole lot positively opened my eyes to the advantages of getting a federal firearms license,” Maddox stated. On prime of this choice, he determined to get it in his residence.
He did all of the analysis and found loads of sudden obstacles. “I realized actually shortly that like most of what I learn was like not correct,” Maddox stated. “So I form of felt duped.”
On the best way, Maddox even wrote a e-book and created an internet site, meant to assist others making an attempt to get their very own FFL.
Maddox ultimately efficiently obtained his FFL, and his love for the firearm world and silencer trade grew. “It form of grew to become contagious,” Maddox stated.
Headfirst Into Suppressors: Constructing Silencer Central
After dropping his pharmaceutical job, Maddox dedicated absolutely to the suppressor trade.
His development went slowly, however ultimately, Brandon Maddox reached the place he’s now, with FFLs in 42 states and the huge firm, Silencer Central. It took him 15 years of exhausting work to succeed in this level. Maddox discovered that laws and misinformation created main boundaries to success within the firearms trade.
This started a brand new wrestle for him. Most individuals he talked to at reveals and occasions believed silencers to be unlawful, and on the time, that was true in lots of states.
Since Maddox broke into the silencer world, silencers have turn out to be authorized in lots of extra states, together with two that he felt have been related to him at the start, Minnesota and Iowa.
As of January 1st this yr, one other large change has made silencers extra accessible to hunters and shooters. The tax stamp that for thus lengthy positioned a $200 tax on suppressors is now $0 (zero {dollars}), making it simpler and extra fascinating to purchase suppressors.
Are Silencers Nonetheless Handled Pretty Right here?
Maddox works on daily basis to enhance laws and laws on silencers as a result of he seems like they’re unfairly restricted in the US.
“You may stroll into most different nations, and purchase a silencer proper off the shelf like you may a scope. I might say that’s the most important alternative for deregulation, can be treating silencers like scopes, like different nations do, and utterly decontrol them, not even deal with them as a firearm,” Maddox stated.
In his early years, capturing snakes together with his uncle within the South, Maddox seems like gun rights and the flexibility to hunt weren’t beneath assault the best way they’re now. “It’s a battle to protect rights,” Maddox stated. He thinks it’s an uphill battle to maintain Second Modification rights.
“People who find themselves Second Modification advocates, we’re all being discriminated in opposition to, whether or not we notice it or not,” he stated.
Thirty Towards One: The Room He Will Not Overlook
One of the vital troublesome experiences Maddox confronted in making an attempt to develop and get his silencer enterprise going occurred in November 2019.
Maddox obtained an e-mail from somebody within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the ATF. They requested a gathering with him.
“The best way I learn the emails, it sounded prefer it was going to be two people. The gentleman who emailed me and his boss,” Maddox stated.
When he walked into the room there have been over 30 bureaucrats and regulators there, and extra joined through video convention.
“I Was Not Going To Cave”
Maddox described how they ganged up on him, clearly making an attempt to discourage him from increasing. On the time, he had 21 accepted FFLs in numerous states and 21 pending with the ATF.
The individuals on this room gave Maddox a laundry checklist of hoops that they had for him to leap by means of earlier than they might approve any extra of his FFLs. “I might say that was a reasonably powerful state of affairs to be informed that statutes don’t require this, however we’re ATF, and we would like you to do that. We’re not going to concern your license except you do that,” Maddox stated.
By the tip of the assembly, Maddox stated he had established he wouldn’t be caving. “If something, I believe it constructed respect with the ATF for me,” Maddox stated.
The FedEx Struggle: A Contract Line In The Sand
One other more moderen concern that has challenged Brandon is the FedEx Lawsuit Silencer Central is concerned in.
Maddox described the entire scenario as a case of unethical discrimination. “They informed us they might do it, obtained us to signal a contract, we transformed all of our enterprise to them, after which they pulled the rug out from beneath us after a fast time frame.”
One of many largest objectives Maddox has on this entire lawsuit is to lift consciousness of those unethical practices, however he does imagine the decide will rule the case of their favor.
In line with Maddox, the dispute traces again to months of direct negotiations with FedEx management, the place Silencer Central was clear in regards to the nature of its enterprise and its absolutely lawful, ATF-compliant delivery mannequin.
FedEx representatives visited Silencer Central’s amenities, reviewed operations, and in the end agreed in writing to offer delivery providers that included residential supply. Counting on that settlement, Silencer Central transitioned its logistics infrastructure and moved vital quantity to FedEx, solely to have the corporate abruptly reverse course shortly thereafter. The reversal was not pushed by a change in legislation or compliance necessities, however by an inside coverage choice that contradicted the very phrases FedEx had already accepted.
Slightly than quietly take in the disruption or search for a workaround, Maddox selected to attract a line. He has framed the lawsuit not simply as a contract dispute, however as a stand in opposition to what he sees as selective and discriminatory remedy of lawful Second Modification companies by main company service suppliers.
Maddox has emphasised that Silencer Central adopted the foundations at each step, disclosed the whole lot upfront, and relied in good religion on FedEx’s commitments. In his view, permitting massive firms to stroll away from signed agreements merely due to political discomfort units a harmful precedent. The lawsuit, he says, is about accountability, equity, and guaranteeing that lawful firearms companies are handled no otherwise than every other regulated trade working inside the legislation.
Pushing For Change With $0 Tax Stamps Now In Play
Maddox is pleased with the change he’s making within the silencer world, however he seems like he’s not performed. He needs to unfold the data additional.
“I began doing this within the early 2000s. When you have a look at the evolution of most individuals who thought they have been unlawful, to now, individuals know they’re authorized. It’s most likely one of many hottest points proper now within the firearms trade, to proceed to get them deregulated.”
As a result of he believes that the suppressor laws within the U.S. are so excessive in comparison with different nations, he needs to impact change from the highest, too. “Anytime you will get a legislator to hearken to somebody speak about suppressors, I believe there’s a profit there.”
Fast Hearth: Brandon Maddox Enjoyable Information
I additionally requested Brandon Maddox just a few different questions for enjoyable.
Q: Favourite gun?
A: “I’m an enormous H&Ok MP5 full-auto fan. Like it. It runs like a stitching machine.”
Q: Favourite e-book?
A: “Undaunted Braveness” by Stephen Ambrose. Maddox loves the story of Lewis & Clark, particularly how they used their pump gun to scare the Native People.
Q: Favourite film?
A: Shawshank Redemption. He was impressed by the individuals “Going by means of that tough time and eventually getting out.”
Q: Who does he look as much as as “thought-leaders?”
His lawyer, Dr Steve Halbriech, “He’s a strolling encyclopedia of, like, historical past of firearms legislation and challenges at a federal stage, at a state stage, the historical past,” Maddox stated.
Wally Nelson, a veteran who spent 30+ years working within the ATF, “He got here out and helped me after I first obtained began, form of understanding NFA legal guidelines, laws, tips on how to comply with them,” Maddox stated.
Sam Walton, the founding father of Walmart. Maddox admires how Walton took one thing that already existed (low cost shops) and stated, “How can we make the perfect after which principally scale it?” Maddox recommends studying Walton’s autobiography: “Made in America.”
Being A Thought Chief In A Louder Dialog
Considered one of Brandon Maddox’s long-time objectives has been to talk at SHOT Present, which he’s doing in only a few weeks.
“To achieve success, you need to actually make your self educated, extra educated than anybody else,” Maddox stated. “If individuals need to get within the trade, my advice can be to be taught as a lot as you’ll be able to. I imply, I’ve Google Alerts arrange the place something with the phrase silencer or suppressor comes on to my inbox on daily basis, and I learn each article.”
Key Information About Brandon Maddox And Silencer Central
Execs And Cons Of The Present Suppressor Panorama
Execs: $0 tax stamps in 2026, rising state-level acceptance, streamlined schooling, and rising public consciousness.
Cons: Remaining federal hurdles, lingering misinformation, delivery and provider unpredictability, and uneven state legal guidelines.
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Is a university pupil finding out Information & Journalism with virtually 4 years of expertise working within the discipline. As a author and duplicate editor for GunsAmerica, she enjoys overlaying subjects that matter to gun house owners and supporters of the Second Modification.
Outdoors of sophistication and work, Kimber serves as president of her native Turning Level USA chapter, the place she helps lead campus outreach and interact with voices on the earth of political activism. She additionally spends her free time studying historical past, finding out the Structure, and working towards on the vary—particularly with a pistol. When not writing or organizing, Kimber enjoys studying about homesteading, DIY initiatives, and hands-on expertise that promote self-reliance.
Expertise:
– Journalism Pupil – At present finding out Information & Journalism in faculty with real-world writing and enhancing expertise.– Author & Copy Editor – Works with GunsAmerica to create clear, correct, and fascinating content material.– TPUSA Chapter President – Leads a campus chapter and collaborates with key figures in conservative activism.– Historical past, Structure, and America Fan – Loves studying how the previous shapes in the present day’s freedoms.– Shooter – Sensible expertise and strong expertise on the vary.
