Terrorist thought it was a good idea to pick up a flashbang before it exploded and won the Darwin Award of the day during yesterday's insurrection. pic.twitter.com/cKE2iZxlwZ
— Kim "Katie" USA (@KimKatieUSA) January 26, 2026
FAFO: Minneapolis rioter loses part of her hand after reportedly trying to throw a flash bang back at federal Ice agents
“TATE001”
That’s the official serial number of what appears to be the first legally registered 9mm potato silencer, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) registration form obtained by The Reload. It’s registered to a man named Zach Clark, who said he pulled off the feat as an act of defiance against the National Firearms Act (NFA).
“It’s a good way to highlight to normal people that like, ‘Yeah, this is dumb,’” Clark told The Reload. “This whole law is kind of dumb.”
The spud suppressor may be the most remarkable result of the NFA tax cut enacted at the beginning of the year as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which made the cost of registering suppressors $0 and opened up the floodgates.
The ATF saw more NFA electronic registration requests on New Year’s Day than at any time in its history. The lower cost of compliance, combined with a recently-digitized process, has made new kinds of suppressors–including disposable or even meme designs–more viable than before.
“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) informed NSSF that on Thursday, January 1, 2026, alone, an unprecedented surge in e-Forms submissions were being processed,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade group, said last week. “That total was approximately 150,000 e-Forms.
For an eye-popping comparison, last year, ahead of the $200-to-$0 tax change, typical daily volume on e-Forms for suppressors, SBRs and SBSs would hover closer to around 2,500.”
While the NFA requires registration of all sound-suppressing devices that attach to a gun barrel to be registered with the ATF, it provides a process for people to register their own homemade designs.
In the same way that somebody buying a suppressor from a store would have to fill out an NFA registration form and get the ATF to approve it before taking possession of the device, a home builder has to submit their intent to build one and get approval before actually constructing the device.
Clark went through that process with his potato suppressor design. He said he made sure to keep potatoes out of his house while he waited to hear back from the ATF.
“As of this moment, I have the serialized washer, and I have the potato, but I haven’t put it together,” he told The Reload. “There’s a manufacturing buffer on that from approval; you have to wait. Plus, that’s a whole thing of like, what is your manufacturing intent? Does it count when you’ll buy the potato? Is it having any potato in your house? Any potato products?”
While Clark’s registration effort is something of a troll, gun-rights lawyer Matt Larosiere noted it isn’t entirely a laughing matter.
“The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm.
So, the definition is pretty broad with respect to a silencer itself, as opposed to the definitions covering silencer parts,” Larosiere, who has dealt with many NFA registrations over the years, told The Reload. “We can see this going way back to ATF’s precursors deeming the XM177 moderator a ‘silencer,’ even though it barely reduced muzzle report.
On the other hand, we’ve seen ATF consistently take the position in determination letters and when giving expert testimony, that a pillow or potato, when used ‘for’ diminishing the report of a firearm, are in fact ‘silencers.’”
Larosiere said it doesn’t really matter how significant the noise reduction is, either. What matters is whether the “device” is for reducing the noise or not.
Which is relevant because Clark isn’t the first person to have the idea of strapping a potato to the end of a gun in order to suppress the sound of gunfire. At least a few YouTube accounts have tested whether spuds can effectively silence gunshots, with unimpressive results, including a test by licensed manufacturer SilencerCo.
(It’s not clear whether those potatoes were officially registered with the ATF or not.)
Additionally, there is some history of people misusing potatoes as suppressors in the real world. There have been several cases where people have attempted to use improvised potato silencers in crimes, with one case wrapping up as recently as last year.
One incident was reportedly inspired by a Hollywood depiction of a potato suppressor in season four of The Wire.
Some lawmakers have also warned that the ATF’s interpretation of what constitutes a silencer is overly broad and could include potatoes. In 2022, Republican Congressman Daniel Webster warned, “anyone with a potato in their home could be committing a felony” in a newspaper piece.
Clark said that history was on his mind when he decided to submit his potato silencer registration just after the ball dropped on New Year’s Day.
“This seems to be what the ATF has run with historically,” he said. “Anything you could put on the end of the device that could, even if it’s only a single time, suppress the noise of a gunshot, they consider that an NFA item. It’s very similar to how you get the goofy historical samples of a rubber band or a shoelace being considered a machine gun, right?”
He reasoned that if he could be arrested for having an unregistered potato silencer, then it must be possible to register one as well.
“There was definitely some precedent to it. And, you know, and the argument is, if you can arrest me for possessing a potato suppressor, and I’m constitutionally allowed to have a potato suppressor if I go through the process, then I should constitutionally be allowed to register a potato.”
Use anything you can to aid in searching for parts.
Gunplay is never advised! Worst case scenario, it can easily end with fatal results. In best-case instances, it leads to the embarrassment and/or annoyance of the owner. Either way, gunplay isn’t good! But what if it’s the gun initiating the amusing antics?
No matter how seriously I take gun handling, my guns sometimes get that mischievous glint in their eye and start playing one of their favorite games. It usually happens while cleaning my dirty shooters.
Like pups at bath time, they start their frolicsome antics. All I can think is, “oh no, not again …” And it can be very frustrating when they start their shenanigans.
Working in a clean, uncluttered area helps keep small parts
from escaping. Old egg cartons for smaller parts help in
reassembly while magnetic dishes and rubber mats with
anti-roll spaces help keep things corralled.
The most popular game my guns enjoy playing is hide-and-seek. Hide-and-seek players are hard to find, but my guns are professionals. And to make matters worse, my guns are arrogant. They like teasing me by exposing most of themselves, then taking sadistic pleasure in hiding their smaller disassembled parts. This delays complete assembly of the freshly scrubbed, oiled and wiped down nomenclature. It’s maddening at times!
The funny thing is, no matter how much I disapprove of gunplay, it happens more frequently. If you think you have your guns under control … good for you! But don’t be surprised if, one day, your guns decide to get frisky. I’ve found cleaning them in well-lit rooms discourages play, as does having a large, clean work area.
Don’t Be Screwed
Containers corralling smaller parts like screws and springs discourage playfulness. Here are a few examples of marathon mayhem I’ve partaken in during “gunplay” games … unintentionally, of course! My guns ambushed me as I took the bait. And I wasn’t even in a playful mood.
Don’t overlook the obvious when searching for escaped parts.
It was my first Christmas with my lovely bride — 35 short years ago. Like most of us, I started the habit of buying my gift for her, in the name of saving her the trouble. It’s continued to this day and I’m good at it, sometimes buying my gifts months before Christmas. Anyway, it was Christmas morning and I unwrapped my gift. It was a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911! How’d she ever know (wink)?
Like most kids on Christmas day, the first thing I did was disassemble the gun, wiping off the heavy factory grease and using a lighter gun oil. As I started reassembling the gun, it decided to get frisky and wanted to play. As I compressed the recoil spring, pushing on the spring plug so I could lock it in place with the barrel bushing, it slipped past my bratwurst fingers and let loose. BOINGGGG!
I heard it laughing in free flight as it launched across the living room. Let the games begin!
I figured it would be a short game. Wrong!
I searched and searched for that recoil spring plug for two days! Tired, frustrated and embarrassed, I admitted defeat, but the part kept playing. Recalculating trajectory, direction and any unsearched area, I went over to the Christmas tree. I heard the giggling before seeing it. There it was, insolently sitting on a tree bough. Game over!
Hidden in Plain Sight
I’d just gotten back from the range and was ready to clean my guns. It was a single-action kind of day, so any unintended gunplay would be unlikely … or so I thought. Besides playing hide and seek, my guns like making me feel stupid at times — adding insult to injury.
So, I started cleaning my single actions, pulling base pins, cleaning barrels and cylinders, lightly oiling them and started reassembling. Uh oh! I cleaned four guns, but there were only three base pins on my shop rag. Game on!
I looked on the ground in my immediate area. No luck!
I spread my search pattern with negative results. I started looking under my benches, checking every nook and cranny. Nothing! For three hours, I played this frustrating game! My wife was yelling that dinner was ready. I’m soaking wet, mad and frustrated. I picked up the disassembled gun, trying to get a clue, when it smacked right between the eyes!
For a small 4 ¾” Ruger Blackhawk, it packed a wallop! Base pins on 4 ¾” can’t be removed without taking off the ejector rod housing. Duh! Double Duh!! Now I was really pissed for being so stupid! Guns enjoy every moment of these playful times.
Misery Loves Company
This last story involves a good friend. His story may be the best of all. He enjoys Weatherby Outfitter rifles and must have 8 or 9 of them in different calibers. Each of them came with threaded barrels, muzzle brakes and thread protectors. One day, he pulled the box out for his latest Outfitter. For some reason, he looked for the muzzle brake. It wasn’t in the box! He had been reorganizing the past year and figured it would eventually turn up.
My buddy plays at a much more relaxed pace than I do, but he ended up playing a marathon game of hide-and-seek.
He checked with the gun shop owner to see if he had pulled the bag out of the box containing the brake while scoping the gun for him. Nope! He searched his storage facilities, safes, garage, and every square inch of the house—nothing! A year went by, and it was still missing. He figured he’d have to buy a new brake and thread protector from Weatherby.
I guess his rifle started feeling guilty and finally decided to stop playing. When looking the rifle over he was knocked out cold by the discovery — his barrel is NOT threaded! He’d been searching for a nonexistent part. That’s some serious gunplay! My buddy told me he was so happy and pissed off at the same time, he didn’t know how to react.
The Searchers
For all my fellow searchers, don’t feel bad. Things happen. Take your time. And if you do get the urge to play with your gun, do it this way! Because real gunplay is dangerous and stupid!
OR as grumpy , old & very cynical me is thinking. The Gun Makers want to sell some more guns. So they invent this new round that will do everything but go around corners, never miss, clean it and then cook it.
Sorry folks but as the late Master Gunner Ian Hogg said a very long time ago. We have taken small arms ammo as far as it can go . So stick with the classics and you really cannot go too far! Grumpy
