Reducing Deaths With A 'Gun Tax?'

Scott Dixon is a retired engineer who lives in Ashland, Ore. He has some rather dangerous ideas about reducing violence and deaths.

His proposal? A gun tax.

While acknowledging the constitutional right to bear arms, I feel that there may be an economic method to persuade gun owners to part with their guns. Governments sometimes require citizens to collectively bear the costs incurred by a few. Society could say, "Fine, you can have your guns. However, we know that the private ownership of guns causes huge economic losses for our society. We want the owners of guns to collectively pay for those losses." I believe that if the owner of each gun had to pay the pro-rated share of the violence done by all guns, he would be inclined to dispose of the gun quickly."

Really? What about the overwhelming evidence that ownership of firearms helps reduce crime. Study after study after study by federal investigators has shown that the ONE thing criminals fear more than anything is the private citizen with a firearm.

Perhaps that is why Mr. Dixon needs to look at Britan and Australia, and chew a bit on how private citizens have seen violent crime skyrocket after the prohibition of pretty much all private firearm ownership.

h/t to David Codrea