'Assault weapons'
What defines an assault weapon exactly these days? This ban indicates certain semi-automatic rifles but any weapon can be considered an assault weapon based on the textbook definition of 'assault'.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault
View attachment 15032
If we are talking about rifles like an AK-47, SCAR or anything that someone can build from scratch, good luck getting those banned.
If you are talking about automatic weapons, those are already banned unless the gun was manufactured before 1986 (can't remember the exact date but it's part of Firearm Owner's Protection Act)
How?
What would this entail? This is already required if you choose to obtain a concealed carry license. It isn't necessarily 'comprehensive' as that's an ambiguous term, but it's there and required by each state in which you can get a license.
I mean, there are only so many ways you can say 'Keep your finger off the trigger unless you are ready to fire' or 'Do not store a loaded gun in an unlocked container' or 'Do not clean your gun when it is loaded'. It's up to the user of the firearm to be responsible about it. If they have a negligent discharge, that is not on the state who granted the license, the instructor who taught the class or the manufacturer. It is the responsibility of the person who caused the ND. If we require people to take an intelligence test to own a firearm as part of the comprehensive safety plan, I propose we also do it before people decide to conceive a child.
When anyone gets their driver's license, they do safety courses that involve the ramification of not wearing your seatbelt. People will still get behind the wheel and drive their vehicle without wearing a seatbelt. Yes, we fine people for that but it doesn't
prevent people from doing it. We fine people for negligent discharges, but it doesn't
prevent it from happening and neither do safety classes. Less than 1000 negligent discharges happen per year. How many gun owners are there in the US? In the tens of millions I imagine. I should probably know this.
This is already happening in a way. Not a sales tax, but a proposed increase in the tax on the manufacture of firearms and ammunition is proposed in Congress. The increase in tax on ammo would essentially legislate away the right to carry a firearm because it would be too cost prohibitive to even own one or practice with one. Would you agree with this legislation or would you agree that it hurts people who want to own firearms for any reason:
First link that popped up on Google:
https://www.atr.org/gun-tax-bill-doubles-federal-gun-tax-quintuples-ammo-tax
Actual text of the bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5103/text
Section in question:
I believe the current tax on manufacture of firearms is 10% so that increase isn't
too substantial (edit: from the ATF website: .
However, the tax on ammunition will pretty much kill the firearms industry. A box of 50 round 9mm target ammunition (ie: range ammo) averages 12-14 dollars depending on the company selling it, the grain of the ammunition and other things. I can find boxes on sale for under 10 dollars recently. This would essentially almost double the price of a box to 20 dollars as it'll be passed to the consumer to offset that price. It doubles the amount of money I have to spend to become
proficient with a firearm and be able to practice safely handling it with ammunition in the firearm. I am unaware what the actual cost is to manufacture a single round of 9mm ball ammo, but increase it by 39% to offset the tax.
This doesn't take into account the fact that personal protection ammunition is already more expensive than the price of regular 'ball' ammo (ie: what you use at the range). Personal protection ammo is also known as hollow point ammunition for those who are not aware. If the price increases, people will be more likely to use ball ammo (which has a tendency to go through a person and into walls or other potential innocents) for protection rather than a bullet that will expand on impact and not go through the person and limit casualties. A box of 9mm hollow point ammuniton varies, but I can find 50 round boxes of ammunition online for 25 dollars which is a really good price. If you go to a big box store, you can only find the ammo in 25 round quantities and it's roughly 18-24 dollars for that at a big box store.
The first headline isn't entirely accurate since there's already a tax on it so obviously fake news.
