Gun control by pricing

by cubrock, Friday, October 17, 2014, 20:38 (3695 days ago) @ Paul

That was exactly the intent of the NFA - to license and tax away guns the feds thought were evil - including handguns. Originally, the NFA targeted any gun with a barrel length under 16". A $200 tax on a gun back then was equivalent to $3550 in today's dollars based on CPI calculations. A more accurate picture of what $200 was back then was my grandad took home $17 a week as a journeyman electrician, on which he was to raise a family. The average American made about $26 a week in 1934. So, a $200 tax represented over 10 weeks' pay for my granddad and about 8 weeks' pay for the average American. In today's dollars, that would be nearly $7,000 for the average American.

And that tax was added to the cost of the gun.

It would seem our southern neighbors learned from us in regard to using pricing/taxation as a means of gun control. I'm sure the streets of Colombia are far safer than the streets of the rural US because of it, right? :)

Neat looking pistol, by the way. I wonder if they will be for sale here in the US?