Point Click, Fire: An Undercover Investigation of Illegal Online Gun Sales

[gejohnston]

163. I don't disagree for the most part.

Last edited Sun Dec 18, 2011, 06:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Your explanation of the demand curve is basically why private ownership of machine guns were almost nonexistent outside of bankers and gangsters. Why would the average hunter/target shooter/or some guy in a high crime area buy something that is very expensive and useless for their needs (short barreled shotguns were just as legal and much cheaper for the latter.) Remember this was pre minimum wage America, not many people had the disposable income to spend on a toy and turns a lot of money into noise.

A lesser known example is Canada. Until 1977, their federal machine gun laws were laxer than ours (simply needed to be registered, while handguns needed licences since 1934). They were still rarely if ever used in crimes, at least fewer than pistols or other weapons.

Prior to the war on drugs, the average street gang rarely used guns. If they had one, would be a homemade zip gun or a very low quality (I mean made by companies like Clerke). It had nothing to do with gun laws, but simply they did not have the money.

I was simply pointing out what (appeared to me at least) seemed like a dip into supply side economics (criminals don't have them simply because there is no supply).
I don't think anyone here said criminals are irrational, just that they don't care about laws.

While the average Japanese criminal might (after living there an studied enough of their history, I don't know if it would be a certainty.) Even then, violent crime would not increase because their history and culture trumps all of that.
While we agree on that point, there are exceptions to any rule.

When I lived on Okinawa in the 1980s, there was a scandal with a few special forces types stationed at Tori Station. Basically, they would pick up cheap handguns in the Philippines, Thailand etc. while on training deployments, smuggle them with the unit gear and sell them to the local Yakusa for very inflated prices.

The point? They smuggled them from countries that also have very strict gun laws. I don't if they were made locally by underground factories, which I know existed in the Philippines, the news never mentioned. I didn't take the time to check out the trial.