No, Don’t Ban Or Tax Guns. There’s A Better, More Effective Way.
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A Democratic representative in Virginia says, “Let’s put a 1000% tax on gun purchases!” He says it can be done because the Constitution allows the government to impose taxes on purchases, and it can be passed with a simple majority of Congress.
Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. Why? Even in the near-infinitesimal event that Joe Manchin would vote with his fellow Democratic senators, lawyers and right-wing judges would have a field day, and SCOTUS would have every excuse to say, “That’s — ahem — infringing on Americans’ Constitutional right to own firearms! What, who said anything about a ‘well-regulated militia?’”
No, there’s a better way. Ask yourself this: what does every single firearm, including Desert Eagles, AR-15’s, and even 3D-printed ghost guns, need in order to be fired? Yep, you guessed it — propellant! Don’t tax the firearms, but tax the propellant, the gunpowder. Tax the ever-lovin’ f**k out of every single form of explosive propellant used for bullets out there. Picture .22LR bullets costing $30 each. And rounds that use several times more powder will cost that much more in proportion.
The benefit of this is that the government would not by any means be infringing on anyone’s right to own a firearm…but if it costs over a thousand bucks just to load a banana-clip magazine, suddenly it’s not going to be so easy for people to buy ammunition for any gun…and to make things better, every bit of the tax revenue therefrom can go towards health (or burial) insurance for victims of gun crimes.
Yes, the devil’s in the details, to the benefit of all the nation’s lawyers, but it’s not as difficult as one might presume. For instance, think of all the other industries that rely on explosives — won’t this adversely affect them? Not really, because the kind of propellent used for gunpowder is chemically different from most other explosives, including those used for mining, construction, and fireworks. And any organization that would be adversely affected — like, say, our military — can get a tax exemption.
