L.A. Councilman Proposes Per-Bullet Tax to Stop ‘Daily’ Mass Shootings

Los Angeles Councilman Paul Krekorian is proposing a per-bullet tax for the city with the goal of raising money to stop the mass shootings he claims are happening “daily.” His tax would also apply to every gun sold within city limits.

According to My News LA, Krekorian said, “There are mass shootings daily in this country, many of which could be stopped by sound policies and better gun violence prevention programs.” Krekorain aide Ian Thompson said money raised from the tax “would go directly into the general fund, but could later be allocated to gun violence prevention programs.”

Neither Krekorian nor Thompson addressed the fact that many public shootings–mass or otherwise–take place in places where some of the most stringent “gun violence prevention programs” exist, either in gun free zones or in cities that continue to maintain draconian gun controls on law-abiding citizens.

Chicago is a great example of this. That city is up to its ears in gun control–including a per-bullet tax and a tax on firearms sold in city limits–yet their homicides are surging this year. In fact, Breitbart News previously reported that Chicago enacted the per-bullet tax as a gun “violence tax”–which is very similar to the justification Krekorian is using–but to no avail. The tax was implemented in 2013, homicides rose in 2014, and they were higher by August 2015 than they were at that same point in 2014.

Yet Councilman Paul Koretz has joined Krekorian in the push for the new tax scheme.

Moreover, both council members have “asked city analysts to study whether a Los Angeles tax on gun and ammunition purchases would be feasible, along with a tally of businesses and patrons that would be affected by the tax.”

This gun control push follows the recent ban on “high capacity” magazines in LA. That ban limits legal magazine capacity to 10 rounds under the guise that a 10-round limit somehow undercuts criminal opportunity. However, it is interesting to note that the “high capacity” ban was instituted just over a year after Elliot Rodger proved its futility by using only 10-round magazines to shoot and kill three people in Santa Barbara.

 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.