http://www.examiner.com/article/is-it-now-time-for-a-firearms-black-market

Had to post this because it will have srinath make some ridiculous and entertaining off topic argument against it.  

srinath wrote on 04/13/13 at 21:05:23:

Not just that...

srinath wrote on 04/13/13 at 21:05:23:

You mean like the black market Canadian and Mexican pharmacies that were cheaper than the US pharmacies?  Or the Gray market importers all over Europe?  Often the black market is cheaper than the formal market either because of tariffs, or position pricing.

srinath wrote on 04/13/13 at 21:05:23:

Again, not always.  They would not pay your famous $100 tax, for example, and that will make a big difference...  Also they will not pay the tax and license fees for full auto weapons.  But yes, amusingly enough, they will pay a few hundred dollars for a cheap $75 pistol in Chicago.  And make their money back that night robbing someone who is unarmed.

Houstonbofh: You're crossing 2 threads. The background checks are not my idea. But expanding the background checks IMHO would raise black market prices was my theory. The $100 bullet isn't use in the accounting of why a black market gun is going to be cheaper. In this thread so far there is no connection to the $100 bullet tax.

Rfw2003: You're likely in the iron pipe, I know you're in OK - but AFAIK the famous "Iron pipe" is the NYC to GA, SC and GA have loose gun laws, and these are cheap, and lots of guns bought there end up in DC or NYC crimes.

This is like water - it flows to the lowest. The black market will get it off the cheapest location and sell it to who/where/when/what is most $$$. If we start raising the standards in 90% of the country, but leave SC and TX as is for example, the iron pipe will just end in TX and SC and run to every state ... Markets are efficient at doing this my friend, black markets especially so.

Cool.
Srinath.

houstonbofh wrote on 04/15/13 at 16:30:49:



Sorry that is no strawman - and I did explain the cheaper black market - just said you dont bring in the $100 bullet, cos it doesn't figure in to this, cos its not a law. Right now the black market is cheaper. I have explained why.

Cool.
Srinath.

The whole point of the black market is to get things cheaper than you could through the legal (not necessarily moral) process. The market for cigarettes, for example, is a way to evade the high taxes. Same thing for a full-auto M-16, you can bypass the cost of the FFL and all associated monetary and time costs by utilizing the black market.

Suppose some idiot gets a bill passed that tacks a $100 tax per bulltet of ammunition. I would go to the black market to buy 1,000 rounds for $1 per round so as to overcome the immoral stripping of my civil rights. They can arrest me and everyone else who bought these bullets but then too many producers will be in prison and no one to provide for the leaches. So, just like prohibition, the law would go away and embarrass the Marxists.

Human behavior is economic behavior and there is no form of marxism that will totally erase that.

OK one more time black market prices vs legal market prices:

Sorry you'd have to read this. I will write in short sentenses with good grammar and punctuation.

Black market buys guns where there are no laws (you're not talking about a 20 year old gun I presume - else used cheaper than new). So you buy it in SC, say $100.

In NYC where there is 1000 restrictions and all sorts of regulations guns are $$$. SC gun gets driven to NY. Markup of 200, $300. Cheaper than the $500 legit gun.

If you imposed gun laws state by state, you will leave a lot of holes like SC, TX, etc etc. So you will always find black market cheaper.

That's why, whatever you do with gun laws, it has to be nationwide, and you have to get canada and mexico to go along. Else the black market will take the easy route.

This has nothing to do with the $100 bullet tax I proposed. This is reality, bullet tax is not. So its not affecting black market gun prices now.

Cool.
Srinath.

Paraquat wrote on 04/16/13 at 06:08:39:


I was going by the last time I looked into getting one, when I was interested in auto fire firearms.  Which was about 2 years ago, for the legit legal pricing of the m16 for civilians. I do know that the underground pricing around here is accurate though as I do know a few people that are into that stuff. They also do ammo as well, what ever kind you want, at prices lower then you would expect, definitely lower then what it would cost you to get it legally even if you were a licensed dealer for LE and military stuff.  How do I know this,  I was an FFL dealer for 4 years and had my class III stamp plus the ability to sell to LE and government agencies.

Now how are they able to sell the stuff so cheap I wonder?  I'd bet Srinath couldn't guess it because he would think it's impossible with the way he's talking.  

They steal it from the government and law enforcement agencies is how. They get the stuff for free, so they can sell it for cheap and make a 100% profit margin on what they are selling.  I doesn't matter how much security there is, criminals will always find a way in. It's in their nature to find the holes in the system.

R.F.

Dane Allen wrote on 04/16/13 at 09:37:12:


That is the exact point I've been trying to make.

R.F.