Possibly the biggest knee jerk reaction as far as new gun laws go...

[Bay Boy]

...would be a bullet tax. How would that do anything to stop a crazy person from carrying out a crazy act?
"Oh I see bullets are twice as expensive as they used to be, I guess I'll go read a book".

The only one punished is the law abiding.

I'd sure like to see someone defend the bullet tax.

[upaloopa]

1. Gun laws are not punishment.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. It could easily be construed as being the equivalent to a poll tax

[upaloopa]

4. Hell it could be construed as a lot of things

but it isn't any of those things.
I don't think it is a good idea though.

[lastlib]

7. Think of it as a "sin tax"

Or maybe a way to fund that database of mentally ill that Lapierre's gonna be entered in.

We might as well make it as expensive as possible for the next killer...........

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Its hard to heavily tax an enumerated right

There are better ways...

[lastlib]

12. Second amendment doesn't say a thing about bullets......

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. The courts in the past have seen through such word games

There are better ways than intellectually dishonest sophistry or comedian stand up routines to get to where we need to be.

[hack89]

14. The term "arms" has always been defined as weapons and ammunition.

Fail.

[lastlib]

23. ...by the NRA, I presume.....

...anybody important?

[hack89]

24. There are centuries of British and American common law

and court precedents.

But you are not here for serious discussion, are you?

[lastlib]

25. got citations?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

9. I forget so please remind me...

...how much did Lanza pay for his ammo?

[Bay Boy]

11. Ok let's say...

... I shoot a thousand rounds for target practice.
We'll say a box of 20 rounds of ammo is $20.00 and they want to tax it at a 100% rate
so now my thousand rounds is $2000 instead of $1000.

And the bad guy who wants to slaughter people buys one box of ammo for $40 instead of $20,
do you think that $20 difference would stop him?

[jimmy the one]

2. devils advocate

bay boy: ... a bullet tax. How would that do anything to stop a crazy person from carrying out a crazy act?
"Oh I see bullets are twice as expensive as they used to be, I guess I'll go read a book".

I'd sure like to see someone defend the bullet tax.

You just did.

[Lizzie Poppet]

5. Sarcasm...perhaps you've heard of it.

Then again, maybe not.

[Bay Boy]

10. That was...

...hilarious! (not)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. they are going to work us to death anyway.

[Bjorn Against]

15. It would give us tax revenue to help cover the cost of gun violence

As it stands all taxpayers get to foot the bill for the high costs of gun violence, from health care costs for shooting victims, to police costs, to the high cost of prisons, guns cost our society a lot of money. Those who insist on owning deadly weapons should pay the cost for those weapons not those of us who want nothing to do with guns.

[gejohnston]

16. since most of it is drug dealers killing each other

how about higher taxes on bongs? Or just end prohibition? I'm not contributing to gun violence in any way. So, why should I pay because some drug connection can't settle his business disputes in a more civilized manner?

[Bjorn Against]

18. I am all for ending prohibition, I am also in favor of taxing drugs

If marijuana were legal it would be taxed, I am 100% in favor of both legalization and taxation of marijuana and other drugs.

Guns kill many people who have nothing to do with the drug trade, I am pretty certain none of the kids at Sandy Hook were drug dealers.

[gejohnston]

19. those are rare cases

and no they were not. Just as many kids were beaten to death by their shitty parents that same week, and another twenty the next week.
But everyday in the US criminals kill each other.

[Bjorn Against]

20. Every day in the US innocents are killed as well

You can try to deny it all you want, but the fact is thousands of innocents are killed every year.

[gejohnston]

22. just going by what the FBI says

some are. Most of them at their own hand. Many more innocents save themselves with a gun, mostly with no shots fired. Everyday in Mexico innocents are killed as well. Many more per capita than here.

[Glassunion]

21. I'm going to go a step further. Legalize every drug.

You want pot, go to a liquor/pot store and pick some up.

Want some heroin? Go the a hospital and have a doc administer some... For FREE.

Also legalize all "vice" crimes...

My plan I think would eliminate of 75% of violent crime in the US. Human trafficking would be greatly reduced as well.

That is until our current 1.5 million members(and growing) gang organizations find something else to make a quick buck on.

I used to enjoy pot. This was 20+ years ago, until i came to a realization. Every penny spent on illegal drugs in this country directly contributes to our homicide and assault rate. If you buy any illicit drug, you are paying for murderers to ply their trade.

[iiibbb]

45. I paid for wars I didn't agree with

How's that work out for me?

I paid for bailouts but never saw anyone criminally charged. how did that work out for me?

iI pay for High School and college sports. How does that work out for me?

[Bjorn Against]

47. I will be with you in calling for an end to war and bank bailouts

I think the fact that our government wastes money on wars and bailouts is a poor excuse for not taxing guns however. I think the parents of high school football players should pay a higher percentage of the cost of sports programs than the average American just as I think gun owners should have to pay a higher percentage of the cost of guns than the typical American.

People who drive pay a gasoline tax, people who shoot can pay a bullet tax.

[iiibbb]

48. As said I, how much, for what

a tax for vague purpose only feels punitive, and there are too many punitive sorts for me to feel agreeable

[iiibbb]

49. there is also a serious technical flaw

that illustrates the ignorance of the people making the proposal. The lack of true understanding makes it hard to craft good law. They get passed when we quibble, but the fault is theirs. probably obvious to only a fraction of gun owners too

[ileus]

17. remember it's about CONTROL not safety or even guns...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

44. and evidently a Huge Number of us are willing to put the control into some nameless, faceless entity

because they don't want the responsibility of trying to solve the problem with the skillful surgery required.

Slap a band-aid on it and hope that does the trick.

meanwhile, who needs equality either theoretically or in a practical way.

who needs to join a volunteer militia in order that we might have good reason to demand that our government Stop The Senseless Wars and Quit Spending OUR Money on DoD (welfare as some on here like to call it)

the hypocrisy and shortsightedness blows my mind and boggles my bones.

I have to remember there are some on here who don't want the responsibility of owning anything and want everything distributed by some type of communal bureaucracy. such a total disconnect for a rural, landowning Democrat.

[Thinkingabout]

26. If the pro gun group continues to deny and refuse to offer safety but only more guns

there will action taken. When this happens the ones they can look to for failures will be the pro gun people. I do not see offers by the pro gun groups to curb mass shootings and wreckless addition of adding more guns without regard to innocent bystanders will result in others being killed by "good guys with guns". We don't live in the wild west where duels occurred perhaps too many times in the cowboy movies. We are better than this, we have knowledge and information which can make us safe.

[gejohnston]

29. AFAIK, they only occurred in the movies

dueling was mostly a "civilized" one percenter past time.

[MightyMopar]

27. Blumenthal proposing background check for bullet purchases

Says a public is demanding action

[Puha Ekapi]

28. The public...

...is demanding action, not idiocy.

[ellisonz]

30. We could give the money to the crazy persons victims.

[gejohnston]

31. what a paper target?

that empty soda can?
That is where almost all of the money and bullets will be going.

[ellisonz]

32. You poor thing

*sniff* *sniff* - having to be taxed to support the social good *sniff*

[gejohnston]

33. actually I have been taxed and I support it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Federal_Aid_in_Wildlife_Restoration_Act

But I'm sure the drug gangs will increase their prices to adjust for the cost of doing business, oh wait where do they get their ammo from?

[ellisonz]

34. Good then there's precedent

We can tax ammunition sales to support court operated victims funds.

[gejohnston]

35. the tax is on ammo too

where is the tax on bong sales, since 99 percent will be criminals killing each other mostly in the drug trade? So why should I pay for a problem I don't create? Oh wait, I forgot the newthink, the blue collar guy in Idaho and his gun is the cause of the gang violence in, pick any large city, but the people who do the actual killing, and their customers, are asked to pay nothing. Yeah that plays well. I don't want to be the DNC chair when that happens.

[ellisonz]

36. I feel like it's time for you...

...to make your case for taxes on bong sales to the greater DU public in GD. I dare you.

Also, I don't know what you're smoking if you don't realize that gun violence effects every area of this country.

[gejohnston]

37. not the point

The drug trade also affects, not effects, the rest of the country. One is simply it is the cause of most gun violence.
are you saying that bongs should be exempt from local sales taxes as well?
Naww, if I wanted to set myself up to PPRed, I would do it in grand style.

[ellisonz]

38. *bawk* *bawk* *bawk*

(does the chicken dance)

[gejohnston]

39. I'll explain it to you sometime

you really need to buy better stuff.

[ellisonz]

40. You already more than have already

I'd just like you to explain it to all my liberal Democratic friends here at DU.

[gejohnston]

41. your definition of of liberal

seems shallow and very narrow. That is the problem with youth.

[ellisonz]

42. You could jump right in on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022165796

Wouldn't even have to make an OP. Why you're for a bong tax, not a bullet tax.

[gejohnston]

43. IIRC I did say in other threads

that I would support an extra four percent for other projects. Like I said, there is bullet tax that I already support, Like I said before, bong owners, unless they grow their own, indirectly contribute more to gun violence than I do. That means the responsibility should be equally distributed. Just like beer drinkers did in the 1920s.
That record keeping did exist from 1968-1986 even the ATF told congress it wasn't worth the effort because it didn't do anything. That is part of why it was repealed.

So explain to me why
I should pay for a problem that I don't contribute to? Better yet, how would you sell it to independent voters?

given that most gun violence occurs in
pockets of large cities
by people with long criminal records
the victims also have long criminal records

Not saying their death is any less tragic, merely pointing out basic facts.

[iiibbb]

46. It depends

As with most things, it depends how much and what for.

Arbitrary or exorbitant and I'm against.