165 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
165 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Ill Effects of Gun Ctrl (X-Post)
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| The Ill Effects of Gun Control |
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| Davd Mercer |
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| 31 October 1995 |
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| The problem of crime has befuddled our politicians and |
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| elected representatives for years. The only result has been |
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| a loss of our essential liberties and freedoms with no |
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| abatement to the threat of crime. Indeed, in the last forty |
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| years, our society has witnessed an increase in the rates of |
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| all classes of crime. Yet, recent data indicates that this |
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| trend is not irreversible. Our experiences in Florida and |
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| Oregon seem to indicate that turning back gun control laws |
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| and returning power to the people can be effective at |
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| reducing all sorts of crime |
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| |
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| How can this be? How can it be that rescinding these laws |
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| designed to curb crime would actually decrease the crime |
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| rates? After all, look at the successes of gun control: New |
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| York, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, and our own great state |
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| of California -- all havens from the gun-ridden |
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| crime-infested countryside. |
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| |
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| The answer to this paradox is in economics. Guns are a |
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| tradable commodity, and, like other tradable commodities, |
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| are subject to the economic laws of supply and demand. |
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| |
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| To demonstrate these concepts, take the simple orange. I |
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| bought this orange for sixty-five cents. Two months ago, I |
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| could have bought an identical orange for almost half that |
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| price, and, by January first, I will be paying two dollars |
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| or more. Or rather, I won't be paying two dollars or more |
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| for the orange. You see, as the price of something |
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| increases, a person's willingness to purchase it decreases. |
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| Thus in the Winter, when oranges must be imported from the |
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| far corners of the world, prices are higher and the chances |
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| you will buy one are lower. Only the very rich and those of |
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| us needing one for a speech will be buying. |
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| Thus, the rule of demand: demand is inversely related to |
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| price; when price increases, demand decreases, and when |
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| price decreases, demand increases. |
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| |
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| The opposite is true of supply. Have you noticed winter |
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| coats appearing in stores where there where none four months |
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| ago? Warm clothing featuring in department stores' Fall |
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| sales? The reason is simple: four months ago it was hot, |
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| no-one wanted to buy a winter coat, and, consequently, in |
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| order to sell the coats, prices would have to have been low. |
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| The lower the selling price, the smaller the profit margins, |
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| so fewer corporate resources were dedicated to these lower |
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| margin items -- better to put the tailors and seamstresses |
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| to work on sun-dresses and shorts. As the price has crept |
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| upward in recent months, more manufacturing resources have |
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| been put to work making coats, so now you see more of them |
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| in the store. |
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| |
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| The rule of supply: that supply is directly related to |
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| price; when prices rise, supply rises too, and when prices |
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| drop, supply also drops. |
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| Gun control laws are simply attempts to manipulate the |
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| market in firearms so as to reduce the number of guns in |
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| circulation. By restricting supply, gun control advocates |
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| hope to drive up the price of firearms and so -- remember |
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| the rule of demand -- reduce demand for them. Some of the |
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| more common attempts have been: |
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| 1. taxes and licensing fees on firearms and ammunition, |
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| which have the direct result of driving up prices; |
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| 2. waiting periods, which are a "time tax" on firearms; |
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| and |
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| 3. bans, which drive the market underground into the |
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| higher-priced black market. |
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| All of these methods have the effect of increasing the |
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| purchase price of firearms and so decrease their demand and |
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| circulation. So far so good. That's what we wanted, wasn't |
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| it? |
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| But remember the orange? Recall the two classes of people I |
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| said would continue to buy oranges even at Winter prices: |
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| the very rich, and, only half in jest did I say, those of us |
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| giving speeches about them. |
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| Let's concentrate on that second group because, as we all |
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| know, the rich are different. The second group: those with |
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| a special need. |
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| You and I might consider it no certainty that we will need a |
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| gun, so there are limits to the price we are willing to pay |
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| for one. But there is a class of people who can not only |
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| say with absolute certainty that they will be in situations |
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| where one is required, but actually willingly enter such |
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| situations: criminals. This class of people will pay just |
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| about any price -- certainly black market prices -- for a |
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| gun. |
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| Economists call this "inelastic demand." |
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| To summarize so far: although well-intentioned, traditional |
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| gun control laws serve only to disarm law-abiding citizens |
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| who were never inclined to use them in the first place. This |
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| is not a negligible effect. Criminological studies indicate |
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| that guns are used by civilians some two-and-a-half million |
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| times a year to prevent crimes. Imagine, if the gun control |
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| lobbies got all they wanted, two-and-a-half million more |
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| crimes this year. |
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| But this is only half the story. Gun control laws also have |
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| an unexpected effect on supply. Remember the coat? As |
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| prices rose, the number of coats for sale also rose. So it |
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| is with firearms. |
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| As restrictions on firearm ownership and possession raise |
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| the price of firearms, the black marketeers have ever more |
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| impetus to supply any demand that remains. |
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| We have seen this effect with narcotics. Even with -- or |
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| perhaps b/c of -- the total ban on these drugs, they are now |
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| as easy to obtain as a pack of cigarettes. Indeed, easier |
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| for those under 18 -- you don't get carded when you purchase |
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| drugs off the street. |
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| It is ironic -- and sometimes tragic -- that these laws |
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| designed to restrict supply actually have the opposite |
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| effect. Any reduction in firearm circulation due to a gun |
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| ban is not for lack of supply -- the black market will |
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| certainly supply any and all remaining demand -- but rather |
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| a result of the reduced demand by those who would not use |
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| them for malice. |
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| As we have seen with drugs, black markets increase crime. In |
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| the case of firearms, gun control will increase the expected |
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| pay-out from a burglary or robbery attempt. |
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| o The thief will be less likely to get himself injured |
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| or killed due to the fact that his victim will |
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| likely be unarmed. |
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| o Should the thief discover a gun on his victim's |
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| premises, the value of this booty is greatly |
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| increased by the higher prices he will receive on |
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| the black market. |
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| And firearm registration exacerbates this problem by |
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| providing organized crime with lists of names and addresses |
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| where these valuable items may be found. |
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| It is indeed unfortunate that the problem of crime cannot be |
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| so simply eliminated. However, these are the facts, and |
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| they are supported by our real-world experiences. Florida |
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| witnessed a sharp drop in its crime rates following the |
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| relaxation of some of its restrictions on possession and |
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| carriage of firearms, that effectively returned power to We |
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| the People. This is the reality, and no amount of cajoling, |
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| manipulation, or deception by the gun control lobbies and |
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| their minions can change this fact. If we are truly to make |
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| headway against crime, we must look at the facts and the |
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| evidence rather than the political rhetoric and sophistry. |
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