3 ms·
This isn't so far-fetched as it seems, there is precedent. For example, following the 21st Amendment and the repeal of prohibition, we had a herd of enforcemen
by CWuestefeld 15y ago
This isn't so far-fetched as it seems, there is precedent.
For example, following the 21st Amendment and the repeal of prohibition, we had a herd of enforcement agents who had nothing to do. This is part of what led to the National Firearms Act of 1934 -- ostensibly a tax measure (anybody could have a machine gun, as long as you were willing to pay the $200 tax). How else to explain the odd linking of unrelated products under the BATF -- the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms"?
- Zak 15y agoAlso interesting is that the law was upheld by the courts not because the government had the authority to regulate firearms, but because the tax was a revenue-generating measure, not a restriction or prohibition. The court conveniently ignored that the tax was sometimes more than 10 times the price of the item being taxed and therefore effectively a prohibition.