quote:
Originally posted by Brentenman:
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I will have to look at the petition.
Secondly, 5.56mm NATO = .223 Remington; 7.62x51mm NATO = .308 Winchester; .30-06 as I stated.
No, those calibers should NOT be banned, should NOT be regulated. Most popular sporting/hunting rifle calibers in the USA started out as a military round. I do not believe in banning "assault weapons" as the media calls them, erronously. Military weapons are already regulated according to the 1934, 1968, and 1986 Gun Control Acts (al three of which need a hefty modification, if not removal, from regulation).
The ONLY guns I would like to see removed from the market are the cheap, "gang-banger" guns. I have seen bucket-barrel fulls confiscated and stored at various police departments in Alabama before I left for the Army. They are mostly Raven and Jennings .25 ACP semi-auto pistols, made from cast metal, same metal Hot Wheels toy cars are made of. Total junk. Garbage. They should be confiscated, removed from the market, and junked. Some may disagree from me, but, well, junk is junk. They are an embarrassment to the gunmakers craft.
I cut out the posts I was finished with.
brentenman,
I agree on the Saturday Night Special, I would put a reverse excise tax schedule on firearms. As the Value and Quality of the weapon declined, the tax would increase. If the .25 semi auto starts cheap even in high quality brands.
An excise tax that rose as the value of the pistol dropped would instantly drive the Saturday night special off the market. Remember, I'm a liberal, and I will urge using virtually any government power to regulate markets. I thought of suggesting a "Federally mandated minimum price" for all handguns, say twenty five hundred dollars. But that is to liberal, even for me.
What I would propose is a Price level that makes the qualit of the weapon the determining factor. and the lower the quality the higher the tax. It could be based on the effective life of the weapon. Say the Colt wears out after 1500 rounds, and the Raven after 500 rounds. You set the tax at 1500 dollars, and reduce it by one dollar for each shot the weapon can fire in its effective life. TAX ON THE COLT ZERO. TAX ON THE RAVEN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Tax on a Llama, 25 dollars. Tax on a Smith and Wesson, less than zero, but set at zero because you don't want to subsidize the sale of Smith and Wesson over Colt. Of course there is the problem of letting a colt fancier determine the life span of the pistol. And there is the problem of the arbitrary nature of the judgement of effective lifespan.
You could also accomplish the same result by using the wholesale price of the weapon. Tax 1500 dollars less 5 times the wholesale price of the weapon. 200 dollar wholesale = tax of 500 dollars 400 dollar wholesale = tax of zero dollars.
Retail price of the cheaper gun, 980 dollars, the higher quality gun, 560 dollars. (markup 40% of wholesale price including tax)
See Liberals can make plans, suggest implementing them and solve problems.
