05 May 2009

Economics for gun owners

Concerned that President Obama may raise taxes on ammunition, US gun owners are buying up bullets wherever they can find them... thereby creating ammo shortages, which has meant that ammunition is harder to find. A lesson in supply and demand?

"In the last two months it's gotten very, very difficult to find ammunition," says Richard Taylor, manager of The Firing Line, a gun shop and shooting range in the Denver, Colorado, suburbs.

"There are a lot of rumors floating around that the present government would like to increase taxes on ammunition. I think [there is] just a lot of panicked buying going on."

While campaigning for the White House, Obama supported re-enacting the now-expired ban on assault weapons. But there is no indication that the administration will take up that measure -- or any other gun-control initiative --anytime soon.


- CNN, 4 May 2009

[Via Fark]

2 comments:

Rick Beagle said...

Does this scare the crap out of anyone besides me?

Slightly Intrepid said...

If you mean all that gun and ammo-buying, then yes. Chris Rock once joked that if every bullet cost $5000 then Americans would be a great deal more discriminating about who they shot. (Although the vast majority of guns are only used for legal purposes, it should be added).