4 ms·

"Increase bullet cost." Significantly.

Firehed 14y ago
Works great for cigarettes.
caw 14y ago
I thought ammo cost was already going up because of demand. Wouldn't that just transition people to making their own bullets? It's my understanding that it isn't super difficult if you have the tools, and can significantly reduce the cost of shooting.
- rdl 14y ago
  I assume OP means the Chris Rock argument for 10000x increase, not the 2-3x increase we've seen. After all, a "good" gun owner who goes to the range and uses ~1000 rounds in practice in a week isn't as much of a problem as a "bad" guy who has 7 rounds in his crappy Hi Point pistol and ends up killing 2 people and throwing away the gun. Primers are ultimately the hardest to produce part (although power/propellant is also hard); brass can be recycled, and bullets can be milled (at the high end) or cast.
Zak 14y ago
Ammunition isn't an especially difficult thing to manufacture. Cartridges developed over 100 years ago are still in use today, relatively unchanged. In particular, the 9mm Parabellum and .45 ACP remain among the most popular cartridges for new handguns today in civilian, military and police applications. Hobbyists load their own ammunition using simple tools and commercially available components. More enthusiastic hobbyists cast their own bullets from various forms of scrap lead. Cases, powder and primers are a bit harder and don't make sense to do at home given commercial availability. Increase the price a significant amount and the sort of people who have the skills and resources to manufacture illegal drugs in quantity will manufacture ammunition in quantity for sale on the black market instead. Guns, too are fairly simple to make - see http://improguns.blogspot.com http://improguns.blogspot.com. Restricting guns and ammunition is not a viable way to keep them out of the hands of street criminals where there is an established black market economy and a culture that says one needs a gun to be a man.

Works great for cigarettes.

caw 14y ago

I thought ammo cost was already going up because of demand. Wouldn't that just transition people to making their own bullets? It's my understanding that it isn't super difficult if you have the tools, and can significantly reduce the cost of shooting.

rdl 14y ago
I assume OP means the Chris Rock argument for 10000x increase, not the 2-3x increase we've seen. After all, a "good" gun owner who goes to the range and uses ~1000 rounds in practice in a week isn't as much of a problem as a "bad" guy who has 7 rounds in his crappy Hi Point pistol and ends up killing 2 people and throwing away the gun. Primers are ultimately the hardest to produce part (although power/propellant is also hard); brass can be recycled, and bullets can be milled (at the high end) or cast.

Zak 14y ago

Ammunition isn't an especially difficult thing to manufacture. Cartridges developed over 100 years ago are still in use today, relatively unchanged. In particular, the 9mm Parabellum and .45 ACP remain among the most popular cartridges for new handguns today in civilian, military and police applications. Hobbyists load their own ammunition using simple tools and commercially available components. More enthusiastic hobbyists cast their own bullets from various forms of scrap lead. Cases, powder and primers are a bit harder and don't make sense to do at home given commercial availability. Increase the price a significant amount and the sort of people who have the skills and resources to manufacture illegal drugs in quantity will manufacture ammunition in quantity for sale on the black market instead. Guns, too are fairly simple to make - see http://improguns.blogspot.com http://improguns.blogspot.com. Restricting guns and ammunition is not a viable way to keep them out of the hands of street criminals where there is an established black market economy and a culture that says one needs a gun to be a man.