A Taxing Experience

Save your pennies so you can afford self-defense.

Democrats will stop at nothing to ban firearms.  They would like nothing better for only the military, the police, and criminals to own firearms.  When President Obama took office, his attorney general, Eric Holder, put out the word that he wanted to ban “assault rifles”  but now, because the Democrats don’t have the political muscle to push it through at the moment, he backed off that statement.  So, instead of going after the guns, it’s time to go after the ammunition.  After all, if you can’t ban guns you can at least make it too expensive to use the guns.

There are a few different ways Democrats are going about a backdoor ban on guns.  The first is banning lead which is used in bullets.  California has already done so on public lands and various parks and areas around the country are working on this, too.    Some areas are trying to have lead ammo banned because it is a way to force gun ranges to try and comply with all sorts of regulations which would be so expensive that it would force them out of business.

There are alternatives to lead bullets but they are more expensive.  Now some people say lead kills birds or fish or whatever because the lead gets into their systems and poisons them.  Interestingly enough:

The CDC report on human lead levels of hunters in North Dakota has confirmed what hunters throughout the world have known for hundreds of years, that traditional ammunition poses no health risk to people and that the call to ban lead ammunition was nothing more than a scare tactic being pushed by anti-hunting groups.

In looking at the study results, the average lead level of the hunters tested was lower than that of the average American. In other words, if you were to randomly pick someone on the street, chances are they would have a higher blood lead level than the hunters in this study.

Also of note, the lead levels of children under 6 in the study had a mean of just 0.88, less than half the national average. Children over 6 had even lower lead levels. The CDC’s level of concern for lead in children is 10.

The second tactic is to tax each round of ammunition.  There have been attempts to tax in the amount, per round, of anywhere from $0.05 up to a whopping $5.00!  Like all taxes, they never go away and rarely decrease.  Indeed, if ammunition is painted as a “sin tax” like liquor or cigarettes it will probably be increased each year as Democrats search for more taxpayer money to pay for their bloated social projects.

Democrat approved firearm?

A third tactic is something that’s been covered here before called “Micro-Stamping.”  This is a completely stupid idea whereby every time a pistol was fired a tiny serial number would be stamped into the empty cases.  This would cause a huge price increase in firearms because the technology is expensive.  And it won’t accomplish anything as someone could simply pick up their brass casings or use a revolver which doesn’t eject spent ammo or they could use one of the many pistols already out there.  Remember, it is being sold as making people safer but it is just another way to make firearms more expensive.

A fourth tactic is to prevent people from reloading their own ammunition.  It is very cost effective to make your own ammo but:

When President Obama went to Mexico in April, he proposed that the United States sign the Inter-American Convention Against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials.

Despite the fact that it purportedly deals with “illicit manufacturing and trafficking,” GOA is convinced that this convention defines these terms much more broadly and potentially presents serious dangers to Americans lawfully exercising their Second Amendment rights.

We see how these “slippery slope” findings are actually implemented when we look at the definitions:

“Illicit manufacturing” of firearms is defined as “assembly of firearms [or] ammunition… without a license…”

Hence, reloading ammunition — or putting together a lawful firearm from a kit — is clearly “illicit manufacturing.” Modifying a firearm in any way would surely be “illicit manufacturing.” And, while it would be a stretch, assembling a firearm after cleaning it could, in any plain reading of the words, come within the screwy definition of “illicit manufacturing.”

A fifth way is to ban surplus ammunition, or mil-surp, which comes from governments that made a lot of ammo for their armed forces but now don’t need it so they sell it for not a lot of money.  The United States Department of Defense now cannot sell this extra ammo so instead it must be disposed of and sold as scrap metal (wonder about the cost of taking apart hundreds of millions of live rounds?):

From now on, remanufacturers of military brass will not be able to buy surplus brass from DOD–actually from Government Liquidators, llc.–the corporation that sells surplus materials for the U.S. government. At least, not in any form recognizable as once-fired brass ammunition.

Now all brass ammunition will have to be shredded, and sold as scrap.

Georgia Arms, who brought this to our attention, is the 5th largest ammunition manufacturer of centerfire pistol and rifle ammunition in the U.S.

He also told me with the cancellation of his contract to purchase this brass, and the ending of his ability to purchase any more expended military ammunition, he will have to severely curtail his operation–laying off approximately half his 60-person work force.

Haynie further pointed out this move is a stupendous waste of taxpayer money–reducing the worth of the brass some 80%–from casings, to shredded bulk brass.

He stated most of this will now go to foundries where it will be melted down, cast in shippable forms, and likely be sold to China, one of the largest purchasers of U.S. metals on the open market.

Dial 911 and hide in the closet instead.

A sixth way is to prevent people from getting good deals on ammunition by buying over the Internet.  A bill in Kalifornia will try and make it illegal to buy ammo unless the transaction is done “face to face.”  This will affect poor people more because sometimes you can buy ammunition online for up to 50% less than at their local gun store.

A seventh way is to clamp down on who can get a Federal Firearms License, or FFL.  At least in Kalifornia, the only people authorized to sell firearms have to posses an FFL.  By increasing the costs of insurance for gun stores by forcing them to meet all kinds of regulations, many gun stores are no longer doing any gunsmithing work ad some mom and pop stores just can’t afford the insurance in case something goes wrong so they close limiting the ability of the consumer to buy a firearm.

The eighth way is to make gun shows unwelcome in a community.  Here is San Fransicko, Kalifornia, the city tries all the time to prevent gun shows from being held within city limits.  Of course, no evidence is ever presented that these gun shows cause a rise in crime but, hey, the city is run by Liberals so when it comes to guns they don’t need any facts.  Often times you can buy ammunition at gun shows for much, much less than you could otherwise (especially if you can’t buy ammo online).

Remember, Democrats do not have the guts to try and ban firearms but they are cowardly enough to try to ban them through backdoor methods.

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