Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tax on Guns




Taxing Away Our Rights


Freedom (AP)
Freedom (AP)
Apparently, local and state politicians are planning on implementing punitive taxes on guns and bullets in order to decrease private ownership of the same. Reports Politico:
Gun owners in and around Chicago last week started paying a new $25 tax on every firearm they purchase. In California, a statehouse panel on April 15 will hear testimony on a nickel-per-bullet tax measure, and in New Jersey, lawmakers want to slap an additional 5 percent sales tax on guns and ammo. …
State lawmakers, meanwhile, are making the case for why taxes should be part of the debate.
“There are costs incurred as a result of gun violence which are borne by the general taxpayer — both social and economical,” California Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, who put forward a nickel ammo tax proposal in January, said in an interview. “There ought to be a cost … to those who want to buy firearms.”
Call me crazy, but I think this is a totally reasonable point. A modest proposal, even. The question is: Why stop with guns?
After all, newspapers and magazines are filled with dangerous ideas. Did you know that some newspapers advocated for war in their editorial pages? And reported false intelligence to the masses? Dear me. What should we do to encourage against such behavior? Seems pretty obvious to me: We should levy a modest, $25/copy tax on those newspapers and magazines that committed such horrors. You know, to pay for the social and economical costs.
And elections are expensive man. Especially in the inner cities, where they have all those polling places and need extra manpower to handle the crowds. More machines, more money, more problems. What about a modest, $25/vote tax on those who wish to exercise their rights in such locales. It’s only fair.
Do you have any idea how much money we spend housing our troops? Bases are ridiculously expensive. In order to offset the costs of keeping a roof over the heads of our soldiers—who really are just keeping us safe, you know—maybe we should charge a $25/house tax on those who don’t want to quarter troops. It’s for the common good, you must realize. You must.
Remember, as the politician screamed at us yesterday, “This isn’t about politics.” It’s about doing what’s right and what’s fair. What should our elected officials be more concerned with? Getting an A from the anti-poll-tax lobby? Or helping our nation manage its disastrous fiscal state? Seems pretty simple to me.

Matt Vespa | April 09, 2013 | 17:37
President Obama exploited the dead in Connecticut this morning in a last ditch effort to shame Congress into supporting his anti-gun agenda.  He had some help too. As my NewsBusters colleague Scott Whitlock posted today, all three networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS – fawned over the president’s gun control agenda, with ABC News’ Jon Karl describing it as a “moral imperative.”  Yet, it seems that none of the networks took notice of a recent survey in which 15,000 law enforcement officers said they oppose more gun control, even as they portray the president having the vast majority of police officers behind him on the matter.
The poll, conducted by the law-enforcement site PoliceOne, asked 15,000 police officers thirty questions on measures related to the Obama administration’s push for more control.  In all, the survey found that:


Matt Hadro | April 09, 2013 | 17:01
CNN's Carol Costello praised Sen. Rand Paul's "champ" filibuster effort to get information on drone use from the White House. Now that Republicans are promising to filibuster a gun control bill if it comes to the Senate floor, however, Costello was in disbelief on Tuesday.
"Paul filibustered like a champ and got what he wanted, information on drones. This time, it's a little different. Republicans, including Paul, have vowed to filibuster away any debate on guns, as in we don't want to talk about guns, period," Costello dramatically uttered. She ludicrously asked if Sen. Paul would even answer his front door if a parent of a Newtown victim wanted to dissuade him from a filibuster. [Video below the break.]


Scott Whitlock | April 09, 2013 | 12:46
All three network newscasts on Monday and the morning shows on Tuesday promoted Barack Obama's "urgent plea" for gun control. These programs pushed the emotional angles, focusing on the Newtown families. Opposition to new restrictions on the Second Amendment was mostly ignored. On World News, guest host George Stephanopoulos hyped, "Tonight, urgent plea. The President goes all out in the fight over guns in America. Calling in the families of the children slain in Newtown." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Reporter Jon Karl parroted administration talking points: "The President portrayed his gun plan as a moral imperative." The ABC reporter then played two clips of Obama, including one where he lectured, "This is not about me. This is not about politics." (How can journalists allow a politician promoting legislation to get away with saying something "isn't about politics"?) Karl also highlighted Gabby Giffords's husband arguing for more restrictions, but no pro-Second Amendment voices. On the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley introduced three segments on gun control.

Clay Waters | April 08, 2013 | 20:51
Two New York Times columnists embarrassed themselves over the weekend, betraying anti-gun ignorance in the paper's Sunday Review.
Frank Bruni went hunting for the first time (with the chef of a ritzy Manhattan restaurant), and remarked "what an unfair fight" hunting is, as if he was the first person to think that up. After lamenting "how thoroughly a weapon can be romanticized and fetishized," he pivoted to easy access to guns in "this country of ours."

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