Posted on 12/19/2001 4:45:03 PM PST by Eagle Eye
BILL WOULD GIVE TAX BREAK FOR GUN SAFES
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is expected to introduce legislation that includes a provision giving a $150 tax credit to individuals who purchase a gun safe.
It would also require licensed firearm dealers to inform customers of the tax incentive.
I say to hell with this.
But being libertarian, I'm curious to see what Conservatives think about tax credits for government-approved behaviors.
Unless we could get a bunch of non-owners to buy $700 safes to get $150 back on their taxes. Hey, this sounds like a deal unarmed democrap voters might go for!
Do you really want them to know?
How's this: 7x45x230?
What better way to be permanently registered in a government database for firearms owners than to voluntarily tell the government that you want your $150 tax credit for your gun safe?!
You won't hear Ms. Brady complaining about this "pro-gun" tax break! Heck, I bet Handgun Control wrote the tax code for this proposal...
If the same type of law, i.e., a "Stash Safe Credit", to keep your "Medicinal Marijauna" safe from the children were proposed, the ACLU would claim it violated the 5th. amendments self incrimination provision.
Then they've got the tax returns with an indication of who owns guns, those people will be audited at a MUCH higher rate.
She might complain, she has no principles and she likes to whine.
They're from the government, they're here to help.
Initially I had wanted to restrict it to low-income people who might well want a locking gun safe to protect their children or casual passersby (or just to keep the gun safe from theft), but who didn't have enough money for it. We all know trigger locks aren't very good. We also know they don't help keep guns from getting stolen!
My proposal also extended to installing a locking gun safe inside your automobile for safe carriage of your pistol as you traveled to and from work or shopping, or even church. The automobile safety laws would be revised to require manufacturers to provide a safe in future model years.
People laughed!
Still, I had 7 points to this plan. One of my other points was to establish a federal requirement that all schools - public or private - require their students to attend a qualifying firearms and explosives safety course before graduation. This would range from proper conduct in the vicinity of a machine-gun right on up to what to do when your propane tank leaks. After all these things surround us and it is ridiculous that so few folks have been taught about what to do and how to recognize the risks (to say nothing of how to fire machine-guns or set off firecrackers).
Now that America has been attacked by a barbaric enemy, it is possible to imagine such an enemy hunting down American refugees. It is time to prepare the people for such an eventuality, and even if they never use a weapon, they should know about small unit tactics, escape and evasion and a host of other combat related activities that might help them save their lives in the face of an even more aggressive attack.
Anyway, that was a militia positive Conservative's point of view - I suppose a Libertarian would think the people have a right to blow themselves up, by accident, or be hunted down and killed like animals by an enemy, and that the poor be required to stuff their rifles in the back of the sofa for safe keeping.
I think we can do better than that as a nation.
BTW, there's a lot more stuff than guns that can be put in those safes.
What a pile of crap!
You are saying, however, that it IS a Conservative point of view that it is perfectly acceptible for the government to use the tax code to shape behavior instead of merely raise funds. Thanks.
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