Gun Control

Gun Control

Gun control is an issue that has been debated by many these past months due to the tragic event at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The controversial issue of gun control is whether government should limit private citizens’ ownership of guns or not? Many believe by banning gun possession from private citizens will help reduce murder rates. Some believe restriction on gun possession will not reduce murder rates but decrease tax revenue and waste people’s tax dollars. I believe the opportunity cost of eliminating gun possession from private owners outweigh the benefits. In other words, eliminating gun possession will only waste capital, result in negative externality, and weapon substitutes.

In order for the government to implement gun control they will have to use people tax dollars because of the immense amount of resources that is needed to confiscate guns from private gun owners. Some of these resources are lawsuits against authority figures for violating the second amendment, employment of special officers (people that confiscate guns), and collect and analyze reports from the gun suppliers. The value of guns will rise due to the low supply and high demand; because many people believe owning their own gun is a precaution to protect them from violent acts cause by others. Evidence of people’s need of gun ownership is presented on the Economix website, Catherine Rampell(2010), discusses about gun control as an economic stimulus. Rampell(2010) reports in 2009 Federal tax revenue increases 45 percent due to people’s feared that President Barack Obama would restrict their access to firearms. Rampell’s report also indicates that by restricting sell of firearms government will lose a portion of tax revenue. One negative externality causes by confiscating guns from the legal gun market is the creation of black market for guns. This negative externality arises more issue like violence among illegal gun sellers and police officers,...