I've published an article on medium.com about the practicality of gun bans in America. You can see the full article here.
I you have a chance to read it, I'd appreciate your feedback.
Here's an excerpt:
I you have a chance to read it, I'd appreciate your feedback.
Here's an excerpt:
Let’s imagine that we have a magic wand obtained from an ancient fairy that will instantly and magically collect 100% of these rifles from their owners and pay them (using taxpayer money) “fair compensation”. These rifles in all their configurations run from about $400 to $6,000. You can spend more if you wish. Let’s assume that the average compensation paid will be $1,000. 10 million x $1000 = $10 Billion. That’s conservatively the cost to confiscate (with compensation) every semi-automatic centerfire rifle in the US. It doesn’t include any of the infrastructure or labor costs to collect and destroy these rifles, so the actual cost would be significantly higher.
The wand works! BAM! No semi-automatic rifles in the US. 100% done. Fixed. What happens?
Murders drop from 15,129 to 14,729. That’s about 3%. Or do they?
Do bad guys that would use a semi-automatic rifle give up, or do they switch to another weapon? Do mass shooters start volunteering at the local soup kitchen because AR-15s are unavailable or do they use a semi-automatic handgun like the gunman at Virginia Tech did in the worst mass shooting ever on a college campus and the third deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in the US with 33 killed and 23 injured?
The wand works! BAM! No semi-automatic rifles in the US. 100% done. Fixed. What happens?
Murders drop from 15,129 to 14,729. That’s about 3%. Or do they?
Do bad guys that would use a semi-automatic rifle give up, or do they switch to another weapon? Do mass shooters start volunteering at the local soup kitchen because AR-15s are unavailable or do they use a semi-automatic handgun like the gunman at Virginia Tech did in the worst mass shooting ever on a college campus and the third deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in the US with 33 killed and 23 injured?