It is a well known fact that criminals do not purchase guns legally. They do not go to stores. They do not undergo background investigations. They do not fill out necessary paperwork. They purchase cheap, throwaway guns, steal them, or obtain them from friends or family.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics publication from 2001 confirmed that among state inmates possessing a gun, fewer than 2% bought their firearm at a flea market or gun show, about 12% from a retail store or pawnshop, and 80% from family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source. A more recent BJS study showed that from 2005 through 2010, 86% of burglaries and 75% of other property crimes involving a stolen firearm were reported to police.
In other words, most of the guns used to commit crimes have not been purchased legally.
But, that won’t stop some state legislators from penalizing the innocent for the acts of the guilty.
Cook County, Ill., this month began collecting a $25 tax on gun purchases, and at least six states are considering new taxes on firearms or ammunition as a way to help pay for the consequences of gun violence.
The Cook County tax applies to purchases in Chicago’s suburbs, but not the city. The tax is expected to raise $600,000 a year, which will help pay for indigent gunshot victims’ medical care at county-run Stroger Hospital.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, a Democrat, says 30% of the hospital’s trauma patients have gunshot wounds and it costs about $52,000 for initial treatment for each. The tax won’t necessarily serve as a deterrent to gun buyers, she says, but “it’s an acknowledgment that we as a society pay a terrible price for the proliferation of guns.”
Innocent people being forced to pay for the actions of criminals. The Demotard admits the tax probably won’t stop legitimate purchases (except for those poor people, who are more likely to be victimized and are probably more in need of a means of protecting themselves and their families and will be impacted more than anyone by being forced to make a more expensive purchase).
What she won’t say is that the more difficult and costly you make a legitimate purchase, the more purchases will be off the books.
The criminals will continue purchasing, trading guns on the black market and stealing firearms. And more and more people will simply trade quietly among themselves.
And, placing an additional burden on a constitutionally protected right is something akin to a poll tax – a monetary penalty imposed on those wishing to exercise their rights in order to thwart said action.
And the tyrannical swine in Cook County aren’t the only ones penalizing innocent people whose only “crime” is to exercise their rights.
Legislation introduced in Congress would add a 10% tax to handgun purchases to pay for gun buybacks and other programs.
New Jersey and Washington state are also working on adding taxes to constitutionally protected purchases.
Roger Dickinson, a California Democrat (what else?), introduced a bill that would add a 5-cent tax to the sale of every bullet.
A committee heard testimony last week on a Nevada bill that would create a $25 tax for gun sales and a 2-cent tax on each round of ammunition.
A Massachusetts Democrat, proposed a 25% sales tax on ammunition and firearms, with the money going to mental health and victims’ programs, police training and firearms licensing. “We tax cigarettes, we tax alcohol, we tax other items that have a negative effect on society,” he says.
And of course you have the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill that includes a fee of up to $25 for handgun licenses.
What these legislators are doing is not only showing disdain and lack of concern for the poor, but are displaying the most stunning display of bigotry I’ve seen since leaving the former USSR.
It’s not race or religion that is being penalized by these repugnant despot wannabes. It’s life and the willingness to protect it. It’s love – for our rights and freedoms. It’s respect for ourselves and the willingness to take responsibility for our safety and the safety of our loved ones.
This is what they’re punishing.
Because our respect for ourselves, our safety and security and our willingness to be accountable for ourselves makes them irrelevant.
So they will tax us, punish us and try to chain us to the wall of their irrelevance.
I keep wondering how these petty tyrants get elected time and time again, and whether their continued rise to power a sign of the destruction of our society.
I think it probably is.
We all know that the gun control efforts have nothing to do with stopping crime, or protecting the children, and I think most of America is starting to realize this too.
People I talk to are amazingly “awake” lately. When even the die-hard deniers of reality are confronted on a regular basis by so many “crazy conspiracy theorists”, they’re forced to reassess their opinions, and this is why it’s so important to keep talking to people, even if they refuse to listen. When they hear it from six different people, they’re FORCED to listen. Be one of the six.
If they just FIRED 3 or 4 of these scumbag meddlers feeding at the taxteat they would save at least 6 hundred thousand as each makes at least 200,00 per year with salary and benefits,can you just imagine if we the people fired/convicted/hung all these traitorous pieces of filth it could save us a whole damn country and the wealth in its borders.
Steve
“What she won’t say is that the more difficult and costly you make a legitimate purchase, the more purchases will be off the books.”
What they also prefer not to be known is that guns are FAR cheaper on the streets than from a dealer.
Sans background check.
No paper trail, either.