Irrational Hubris
Once upon a time, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, awash in frustration over the turning tide of the battle over gun control - suggested that the best way to ban guns was to tax them out of existence. If we can't ban guns, he whinged, why not put a 1000% tax on ammunition?
In a backhanded way, it's working - at least, in America's liberal-dominated cities, according to the Strib:
In a little-noticed victory for gun control advocates in Minnesota and across the nation, the number of gun dealers in the United States has plummeted 78 percent in the past 10 years as tens of thousands of home-based dealers surrendered their federal licenses.
The drop shows how the gun debate has moved from a national stage -- where gun control advocates lost congressional battles to ban assault weapons and to sue gun manufacturers -- to local zoning boards that are creating a growing web of fees and regulations that indirectly restrict firearms sales.
This web has squeezed out nearly every gun store in the Twin Cities metro area between a pincer of zoning laws on the one hand and and administrative laws (and lawyers, and courts) basically set up to do the cities' bidding. The same assault has also crushed the network of private, home-based - and almost inevitably law-abiding - gun dealers that used to provide a market for gun sales and repairs to the law abiding urbanite.
Call it adaptation - on both sides:
"The gun control agenda has evolved from the halls of Congress and the courts," said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association (NRA). "Now we're seeing it evolve to the micro level in local municipalities."
The main consequences, as usual, are unintended:
But what looks like welcome news to gun opponents might just have driven gun sales off the books, as fewer personal gun sales are logged, vetted and tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Whether that has led to more illegal gun trafficking is open to debate.
"Most of these guys [who are no longer licensed] were just home-based dealers who did gun shows on the weekends as a part-time job," said Mark Koscielski, who is fighting a zoning battle to hold on as the last remaining gun store in Minneapolis. "Now they revert to private collectors, so they're free to sell without federal background checks. They're private sales."Don't expect the anti-gun crowd to recognize it:
"The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important -- and little noticed -- victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America," said Marty Langley, a policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center.
It'd be interesting to define "victory".
In the Twin Cities, the number of gun dealers has plummeted. In the meantime, crime is out of control in Minneapolis. Especially gun crime.
"It doesn't mean there are fewer guns out there to be purchased or manufactured or sold," said Hamline University law school Prof. Joseph Olson, a gun rights advocate, at the State Capitol in St. Paul.
Indeed.
While the number of private firearms has zoomed upward in the past ten years, crime has plummetted.
The article is actually a fairly good overview of the situation; the number of licensees has dropped, partly due to zoning, largely due to federal taxes and enforcement and an ongoing effort to make sure that licensees are actually in the firearms business, rather than gun collectors with superpowers.
Still, there are plenty of the former:
Among those fighting to keep a license is Koscielski, whose gun shop at Chicago Avenue S. and E. 29th Street was found to be in violation of Minneapolis zoning codes earlier this month. He says Minneapolis and St. Paul, like most major cities, "have virtually zoned out gun shops."
Mark's story is a teeth-grating tale of government excess.
More on that later.
Posted by Mitch at
March 22, 2006 06:39 AM
| TrackBack
It is kind of odd that people who complain about large chain stores pushing out small businesses don't seem to apply this principle to firearms.
To follow their logic: Large chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot etc. are bad. However, it's okay to push small firearms store owners out so that the only places to buy them are large chain stores such as Cabela's, Gander Mountain, Dick's etc.
Seems a touch hypocritical to me.
Posted by: Just Me at March 22, 2006 07:11 AMLeaving aside your mis- and overuse of "whinge" and "whine" - you'd be on firmer ground applying those verbs to the God-botherers in your party than to the engaging and professorial Moynihan - your choice of "whinge" betrays a creeping Anglophilia that is at odds with the otherwise Know-Nothing Americanism of this blog.
You are located in the boring, flat middle of America, Mitch. Minnesotans do not "go missing." You were never "at University."
In future please also eschew "no worries," "sacked" and "God-botherers."
As for "arse," "wanker," "shite" and "bollocks," be advised that these are right out.
Cheers!
Posted by: angryclown at March 22, 2006 07:17 AMSo can we say angryclown is a wanker? I know what that means in "Manc".....
....or is angryclown a wally? or a fookin' bugger?
/channeling Tony "Fookin" Wilson
Posted by: Greg at March 22, 2006 07:30 AMMitch a know-nothing? Don't you mean know-it-all?
Posted by: Terry at March 22, 2006 07:54 AMMitch, the main cause of the decrease in the number of vendors was the requirement that FFL holders meet local zoning laws. (Thank you, Clinton.) It used to be useful to have an FFL just so you could transfer guns from out-of-state relatives to you or those you knew, but now that doesn't happen so all those transfers take place off the books of the Feds, not that there's anything wrong with that, right AC?
I have to say, though, that the lack of an abundance of FFLs has made those private transfers a little more pricey, to the tune of about $10. You can still get discounted guns from out-of-state dealers, you just have to find an FFL nearby to send them to then go pick them up. But that requirement of finding a place that meets zoning laws means that those of you living in liberal dominated areas don't have as easy access as those of us outside them.
Posted by: nerdbert at March 22, 2006 07:57 AMA reduction in gun dealers does not equate to a reduction in gun ownership. Likewise, taxing ammunition in Minneapolis does not mean less ammunition in Minneapolis. Both of these mean that gun dealers and ammunition dealers are being hurt in Minneapolis. Gun owners are more like driving to other, more firearm-friendly environs to do there shopping.
Buying a gun or bullets is not quite like picking up bread and milk on the way home from work. Most likely, people do not buy guns or even bullets once a month. A 30 minute or even an hour drive every two or three months is probably an acceptable alternative.
Posted by: Scott at March 22, 2006 08:37 AMCreeping Anglophilia? Where? Let me get Mr. Nine Millemeter and I'll fill that beatch full of holes.
Cheers!
Posted by: Kermit at March 22, 2006 09:41 AMAngryclown eto nekulturnii.
Out-cosmo me NOW, lawyer-boy.
Or "Lawyer-boyo".
Posted by: mitch at March 22, 2006 09:58 AMI, for one, would like to welcome the creeping linguistic influence of our former colonial overlords. I got a new respect for the coloquialisms of the Brits when I worked with them on a project yeas ago. The accent was pure BBC, but the language wasn't. The sheer variety, nuance, quantity, and frequency of their vulgarities was astounding and entertaining.
For examples of the variety of British insults that are still acceptable in society, you might check out the technology sites http://www.theregister.com and http://www.theinquirer.net. Both are great examples of the British view of how technology news should be reported. For example, the article discussing the fact that IE6 isn't very good and the needed IE7 may come out sometime soon is headlined "Microsoft admits IE mess up: Waited for Godo."
Posted by: nerdbert at March 22, 2006 11:54 AMOK Nerdbert, I'll accept their linguisticts. Just keep their "cuisine" out of here. Toad-in-a-Hole? Not in My Minnesota.
Posted by: Kermit at March 22, 2006 12:17 PMWhere'd my pickled herring go?
I put a T in linguistics. (Thumping self on head)
Posted by: Kermit at March 22, 2006 12:18 PMNerdbert said: "I, for one, would like to welcome the creeping linguistic influence of our former colonial overlords."
Well that's no surprise. You right-wing authoritarian types will kiss whatever ass is in the chair behind the biggest desk. I have no doubt that, if you live long enough, you'll be telling us all how much better things are under our new robot masters.
Posted by: angryclown at March 22, 2006 12:30 PMWhile the interchange of "ideas" is boundlessly entertaining, I'd like to interject something at this point.
All: Do remember what I wrote about Clown a few weeks back. It rhymes with "blaster pain blanker". Or perhaps "faster gain wanker".
I think he's the guy in high school who used to call in the fire alarms and b*mb threats just to see everyone scampering around.
Ah, well, enough. Carry on.
Posted by: mitch at March 22, 2006 12:33 PM"As for "arse," "wanker," "shite" and "bollocks," be advised that these are right out."
If you ain't from Ramallah, you ain't shiite.
Posted by: mitch at March 22, 2006 12:34 PMAC: "...if you live long enough, you'll be telling us all how much better things are under our new robot masters."
We have the Clown playing the clown again for the amusement of all to see. Little does he recognize the popular culture reference. Let me toss a clue in your general direction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Homer. If you try and fire up google on the keywords you'll find the play on words quite common, for example, "I for one welcome our new Intel overlords..." at TheAppleBlog.com.
How about this: the search for the exact string "I for one welcome" and overlords on google and find 153,000 hits . Lots more than the 729 for the exact string "scumbag lawyer" we were talking about yesterday.
Gee, it loses it a bit to have to spoonfeed the clueless. Here I thought it was supposed to be the NYC denizens who were hip and clued into all the trends, much more so than the hicks here in the red states.
Posted by: nerdbert at March 22, 2006 01:23 PMYa got me there, Nerd. I suspect you also exceed me in Klingon language ability, knowlege of pimple medications and the skills necessary to mend broken eyeglasses with duct tape.
On the other hand, I have had sex with women. So I guess we both have things we can learn from one another.
Posted by: angryclown at March 22, 2006 01:43 PMThis is news!?!? It been a well known fact that FFL licenses declined significantly under Klinton for a several years. Seems like a press release from the VPC at this point in time is just to make them sound like they're still relevent. I think a lot of the prior holders weren't doing the level of business to justify the increased (from 30 to 200 dollars) license price. So now maybe they have C&R licenses and just buy and trade in C&R weapons...
Posted by: samureye at March 22, 2006 02:00 PMOh man, He's Angry and yes he IS a clown has just stepped in it.
Posted by: Publius 2001 at March 22, 2006 09:33 PMDude, I've been around for a long, long time and guys who are getting sex from women don't talk about it. They don't have to. And, they don't rub another dudes face in it. It's too personal.
Now it all makes sense. When you thought it was funny that white little boys were getting left behind in school and that it, somehow was justice, I knew you didn't have a son of your own. And, after I thought about it for awhile I realized that you probably didn't have a little girl either. That's because when you become a parent it changes you somehow, and you can relate to other parents worries. Even if their a different gender(or a different political party). Then I realized that you couldn't even be married because marriage changes you. You begin to think about having babies and what you'll do when your a father.
Only lonely, angry single guys can hate other little dudes like that. Bingo.
You ain't gettin' any. Oh man, you're never going to live this down, your ass is mine!!! Cool, now I don't have to hang that long moniker on you any more. I can just call you ass clown. Oh, by the way, the last time we had contact you thought you were quite clever but here's the real scoop. 1)My intent was to do to you what you want to do to Mitch and other (conservative) readers of this blog. Which is get a rise out of you. Mission accomplished. See how easy it is? 2)I know you thought you wounded me when you called me pubus, but as an ex-democrat the first thing I thought of when I picked the name Publius 2001 was some dumb liberal would think he's clever and call me pubis to try and wound me and anger me. Nice try, not creative. Oh, I cried and cried when you said that, it hurt me sooooooo bad. HaHaHaHaHAHaHaHaHAHAHA.........You ain't gettin' any!!!!! God that's rich.
Pubus, I think this will explain what you're going through right now. Godspeed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/health/23fda.html
Posted by: angryclown at March 23, 2006 06:51 AMAngryclown bragged: "On the other hand, I have had sex with women. So I guess we both have things we can learn from one another."
To which I can only wonder, did she know?
Posted by: Kermit at March 23, 2006 09:22 AM