ST. PAUL — The Senate is moving to lift a ban on gun silencers even as Gov. Mark Dayton has promised a veto.

Minnesota’s Senate and its Democratic leader had shown little interest in expanding the state’s gun laws this year. But a rural Democrat led a successful attempt Thursday night to legalize silencers along with a handful of other changes to firearm law.

Gun rights advocates call them suppressors. They say suppressors don’t silence gunfire but merely muffle it.

Sen. Lyle Koenen’s suppressor ban repeal was added to a package of crime and law policy changes. A final vote on that bill was expected later Thursday.

Dayton tried to head off that talk earlier Thursday with a veto threat. He says quieter guns could put police and civilians at greater risk.