Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Gun Control & RKBA
Showing Original Post only (View all)Make Gun Companies Pay Blood Money [View all]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/opinion/make-gun-companies-pay-blood-money.html?_r=0GUN manufacturers have gone to great lengths to avoid any moral responsibility or legal accountability for the social costs of gun violence the deaths and injuries of innocent victims, families torn apart, public resources spent on gun-related crime and medical expenses incurred.
Related in Opinion
But there is a simple and direct way to make them accountable for the harm their products cause. For every gun sold, those who manufacture or import it should pay a tax. The money should then be used to create a compensation fund for innocent victims of gun violence.
This proposal is based on a fundamentally conservative principle that those who cause injury should be made to internalize the cost of their activity by paying for it. Now, gun manufacturers and sellers are mostly protected from lawsuits by federal law.
As it happens, a model for this approach already exists. Under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, those injured by vaccines are eligible for compensation from a fund financed by an excise tax on the sale of every dose of vaccine. In creating this no-fault system in the 1980s, Congress sought to provide care for those injured by vaccines while protecting manufacturers from undue litigation.
<more>
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
127 replies, 34191 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (10)
ReplyReply to this post
127 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
When will you start taxing Ford, Honda, Toyota, etc. for car crashes?
friendly_iconoclast
Jun 2013
#2
Because the unsafe, illegal use of their legal product generates their best sales.
Robb
Jun 2013
#41
Their business model has come to depend upon that unsafe, illegal use of their legal product.
premium
Jun 2013
#42
Bullcrap? You've noted yourself the reactionary nature of gun buyers and gun buying.
Robb
Jun 2013
#44
Instead of trying to control unsafe and illegal use, you want to 'punish the sinners'...
friendly_iconoclast
Jun 2013
#45
You are skipping right over the critical question of responsibility: in every
petronius
Jun 2013
#54
"Manufacturers don't determine the intent of the end user." Yep, that's pretty much
petronius
Jun 2013
#109
I'm not dragging hunting in at all. It is irrelevant to the discussion.
Starboard Tack
Jun 2013
#111
Tobacco causes its harm when used for its proper, legal, and pretty-much the only
petronius
Jun 2013
#113
Air Soft guns do the same thing - but they are not designed to kill, unlike extender devices.
jpak
Jun 2013
#11
A significant difference between guns and other items treated this way, such as
petronius
Jun 2013
#4
Gun nutz claim all rifles are "assault rifles" because they were derived from military arms
jpak
Jul 2013
#116
The authors of the Op-Ed should have called for what they really want, to ban all guns.
SoutherDem
Jul 2013
#118