One gambit of gun banners is to promote “sensible gun laws” that increase firearms costs, ensuring that fewer Americans can afford guns.
Yesterday, Congressman Mike Quigley (D, IL-5) announced his “TRACE (Trafficking Reduction and Criminal Enforcement) Act.” Ostensibly, this will “give the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) a greater ability to identify the source of illicit guns and choke off the supply to traffickers.”
TRACE requires:
- “A second, hidden serial number on every gun”.
- “Maintaining background check records for 60 days”, instead of the current 24 hours.
- “gun dealers to perform inventory checks to report lost and stolen guns”.
These requirements will drive up prices by:
- Increasing manufacturing costs.
- Creating larger, more expensive government via additional data processing and storage.
- Increase firearms dealers’ overhead.
Gun control benefits the wealthiest Americans, by ensuring only they can afford guns. For example, the District of Columbia has the toughest gun control laws in America. Recently, the Washington Post reported:
“In the 2½ years since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the District’s handgun ban, hundreds of residents in Washington’s safest, most well-to-do neighborhoods have armed themselves, registering far more guns than people in poorer, crime-plagued areas of the city, according to D.C. police data.”
In 2008, Democrats became the biggest recipients of corporate campaign contributions. Now the new party of big business wants to disarm the people who mistakenly voted for the mythical party of the little guy.