Many deaths in the United States, especially among the students, are caused by gun shootings. The government and agencies have formulated laws and programs to fight against gun ownership but they have not been successful. Young people and adults own guns because their prices are affordable. The appropriate method to reduce gun shootings is to prohibit ownership of guns through increasing the prices. An increase in the taxes on guns and ammo will increase the prices which will reduce the number of consumers and eventually decrease the demand along with supply. Policy makers need to implement tax laws that will increase the tax revenue on guns. The increase in the prices of ammunition will decrease ownership among the citizens.
There is a need for reducing gun violence because every day 89 individuals die due to gun violence in the United States (Kopel, 2011). Tax laws will have an immediate effect on the percentage of gun ownership and acquisition among Americans.
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Application of Economics to Reduction of Gun Violence
High taxes increase the prices of guns and ammo leading to a reduction of gun ownership. Many individuals own a gun because of the low prices as a result of low taxes charged on weapons. Around 40 % of Americans own guns or live in households that own one. Most deaths in the United States are caused by shootings. America is the leading country that has ammunitions with an estimate of 270 million guns in the state. The guns are sold at low prices similar to that of a Chrome book laptop (America's gun culture in 10 charts, 2018, February 15). According to Brandus (2018), the idea of increasing taxes has an effect on gun ownership. For instance, the taxes that have been set in Chicago are $ 25 for every gun and those of Illinois are $ 2 to 5 cents have reduced gun supply in the states. Guns ownership has reduced since 1997 to 2014 from 50.4 % to 31.0 % respectively. Taxes reduce the supply and demand of gun leading to reduced gun violence.
The price of bullets should be higher than that of guns as a result of imposing high taxes. Bullets play part in the killings. For instance, if one has a gun and no bullets they cannot kill. According to Dwyer (2012), claims that gun control cannot work because guns in the country can last a supply of almost 200 years. He suggested that taxation could work on any weapon used to kill to reduce gun violence. Dwyer supported the approach of Senator Daniel Moynihan that guns do not do killing but bullets kill. Zremski (2018), claimed that all ammunition should be imposed on taxes amounting to $ 5,000 on dangerous bullets and $ 75 on ordinary ones to discourage ownership of guns. The idea of gun control has worked in Australia but it would not be practical in America.
The government and agencies are responsible for implementing tax laws by learning from the past successful taxation measures from other countries. The past measures have not reduced the ownership of guns. According to Mihm (2018), the strategy on increasing the taxes on ammunition used by FDR was successful. Tactics on implementing tax laws should be learned from the past attempts and make improvements because we are living in a different generation.
Alternative Solutions
Increasing the taxes may not work but there is a need for alternative solutions to fight against gun supply and demand. Trump proposes the future steps to be taken in controlling gun violence is prohibiting bump stocks and increasing the age of gun ownership to 21 years. This solution can take some time before reducing gun supply and demand. Individuals who are above 21 years are still many and the teenagers can use guns from their parents (Liptak & Shortell, 2018, February 21).
Secondly, the market equilibrium for all ammunition should be decreased which will, in turn, decrease the supply and demand for the weapons. This can be an effective alternative approach because the supply and demand of ammunition are directly proportional. For instance, an increase in the demand for ammunition increases their supply. The quantity demanded will decrease which will reduce the prices of ammunition below the market price. The ammunition companies will make low profits which will lead to the closure of some of them because they cannot meet their expenses.
In conclusion, gun violence has not been reduced by constitutional laws and programs that formed by government and agencies. The economic approaches can be effective because they have a direct intervention on the demand and supply of ammunition. The suitable recommendation is increasing taxes on all ammunitions which will increase their prices leading to a reduction in supply and demand. High taxes increase the prices of weapons which reduces their consumption. The taxes on bullets should be higher than that of guns because they make killings happen. A gun is useless if it does not have bullets. We should learn from the past measures that were workable on reducing guns and make improvements for the current implementation of price increase to be successful. Alternative solutions on increasing the market equilibrium can be effective. Taxation on ammunition will take a shorter period in reducing gun violence.
References
America's gun culture in 10 charts. (2018, February 15). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081
Brandus, P. (2018, March 05). Guns are on the same path to oblivion as cigarettes, soda. Retrieved from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/guns-are-on-the-same-path-to-oblivion-as-cigarettes-soda-2018-03-05
Dwyer, J. (2012, August 09). If Guns Do Not Kill, Tax the Bullets. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/nyregion/taxing-bullets-as-de-facto-gun-control.html
Kopel, D. B. (2011). The Great Gun Control War of the Twentieth Century-and Its Lessons for Gun Laws Today. Fordham Urb. LJ , 39 , 1527.
Liptak, K., & Shortell, D. (2018, February 21). Trump moves to ban bump stocks. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/donald-trump-bump-stocks/index.html
Mihm, S. (2018, March 09). FDR's Gun-Control Strategy: Tax 'Em. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-08/gun-control-history-fdr-s-taxing-of-machine-guns
Zremski, J. (2018, March 08). The Briefing: On guns, the ideas you never hear about. Retrieved from http://buffalonews.com/2018/03/07/the-briefing-on-guns-the-ideas-you-never-hear-about/.
