Boch Ammunition shelf
The Time Before (Image by Boch)

In America, economic solutions often triumph over moral crusades.

So, let’s change the conversation and make this about money.

Not about guns, but about bullets.

Specifically, a Benjamin per bullet.

A Benjamin per EACHY and EVERY bullet.

Let’s put a federal tax of $100 on every instance when any entity in America makes or imports anything that can be used as a round of ammunition in any multi-round weapon.

Let’s tax each of those bullets again at $100 whenever sold, resold, or gifted.

Then let’s make ownership of bullets, by individuals or businesses, subject to an annual property tax at $100 apiece – why just tax land? …

After all, we all know that guns don’t kill people – bullets do. Those who want a handgun for personal defense still can pay for a few bullets. If folks fomenting armed rebellion want more bullets, they can pay for them, just like disaster preppers pay for their basements of supplies. …

No one’s trying to take anyone’s handguns here.

No one’s trying to take anyone’s assault rifles, or even limit their sales, no matter how much many of us wish we could.

No one’s even trying to take their bullets – just make their costs better represent the potential devastation they can cause. …

Tax bullets at $100 apiece.

Tax them now.

Tax them tomorrow.

Tax them forever.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

102 COMMENTS

    • At the rate inflation is increasing $100/round should be pretty affordable by next year /sarc

      • Beat me to it……..so on an unrelated not need to pick up some scrap lead and antimony maybe some tin.

    • What part of “Camel’s nose under the tent” do people not understand?

      I have been arguing this point on many items of proposed gun control that too many people have said, “Well, that’s not so bad, I can live with that.”

      The 1934 NFA has never been successfully challenged in SCOTUS despite being prima facie unconstitutional and as a result even though we complain about it it has become mostly accepted as a fate acompli.

      Its primary failures are two:

      1. It established that the government could in fact infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and
      2. It established the precedent that the government could demand a tax be paid for the exercise of a Constitutionally protected natural right.

      So with that precedent in place for 88 years what has prevented them from revising that law to raise the cost of that “tax stamp” on NFA firearms from $200 to $2,000 dollars, or even $20,000? Answer – absolutely nothing – it is established law.

      And as the precedent was established and still exists in the 1934 NFA where is the legal stand to argue that each and every bullet cannot be taxed, and taxed at a rate that makes it all but impossible for the average citizen to even own a firearm, much less practice with it to become proficient in its use?

      The only good that could come from this, if the Congress pushes it or anything like it through, is a perfect chance to once again challenge the concept of taxing a right in the Supreme Court and perhaps in the effort get the 1934 NFA repealed in the bargain.

      “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” – Justice John Marshall

      • that would NOT be the camel’s nose under the tent. It would be everything but the camel’s scrawny short tail under the tent. Then falling off the cliff in an heap. Hit every boulder on the way down.

    • This is SARCASM. The original “A Modest Proposal” was satire written during the Irish potato famine. The writer suggested the Irish eat their kids to avoid starvation.

      • The problem with that is that progressivism is a degenerative disease. The first things it attacks is the sufferer’s sense of humor and understanding of sarcasm, leading them to believe such preposterous proposals are serious. It also leads them to believe all gun owners have small penises, regardless of sex.

      • Quote the part of the article that says “A Modest Proposal.” (Not the editorialized title by TTAG.)

        • In 1993, NY Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan introduced a bill in the Senate which would have levied a 10,000% tax on hollow-point bullets. Moynihan was first.

    • RE: minor49iq below…“This is a matter of vital importance to the public safety. While we recognize that assault weapon legislation will not stop all assault weapon crime, statistics prove that we can dry up the supply of these guns, making them less accessible to criminals. We urge you to listen to the American public and too the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons.“ Ronald Reagan

      In 1994 people were falling for Gun Control like good people fell for Jim Crow and good people fell for nazi socialism, etc. 1994 was before POTUS RR and America found out they were going along with the agenda of the sleazy pervert/rapist democRat bill clintoon. Once good people smelled the Rats in Gun Control they sought clean air. Unfortunately POTUS RR missed the worst to come from the sick tyrannical democRat Party that is on display today.

      Besides dirtbag democRats like you celebrated when POTUS RR was shot with a handgun and cried when he survived. How do you sleep at night being such a pos who use people you and your ilk disdain? If you are going to cite POTUS RR be a man for once and note POTUS RR smelled the Rat in democRat and left the party and became a Republican. You know POTUS RR ​was surrounded by congressional democRats for 8 years…Closet democRats who would not show their true colors like they show their true colors today.

      This knee jerk hop on the coattails of murdered children to blame firearms and the NRA is a despicable sleazy effort to convince America to surrender the Second Amendment to pasty mouth Gun Control garbage like yourself. It is not going to happen even by order of some hypocrite tyrant who has armed security surrounding them 24/7.

      Take responsibility you criminal coddling defund the police marxist democRat…The NRA and gun owners presented working remedies for protecting schools and democRats barked at those remedies that got in the way of indoctrinating school children into marxism. Your socialist marxism desires continued supplying soft targets for mentally ill individuals who criminally misuse ANYTHING they can get their hands on. If you think Americans are going to lay the Second Amendment and their means to protect their children at the feet of Jim Crow Gun Control joe and nitwits like you then think again.

    • I never like that joke, I was younger then when I first heard it. I thought it was ridiculous even then. I was in HS…

  4. We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
    Ronald Reagan

    • “This is a matter of vital importance to the public safety. While we recognize that assault weapon legislation will not stop all assault weapon crime, statistics prove that we can dry up the supply of these guns, making them less accessible to criminals. We urge you to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons.“
      Ronald Reagan

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/02/before-trump-defied-the-nra-ronald-reagan-took-on-the-gun-lobby/

      • Yes, MinorIQ, Ronald Reagan was also, like you, capable of extreme stupidity. Glad to see you are coming close to grasping that whole, “humans are fallible” concept . . . God knows YOU certainly are!! Tell us again how Article I, Section 8 is clear authorization for universal federal gun control, you pathetic half-wit.

        • I gave minor49IQ a time consuming reply and for no reason whatsoever it is in moderation…If my reply does not appear then minor49iq got away with his usual crap.

      • Although a Republican, Reagan was a former Democrat and an anti-gun advocate. He also signed the Mudford Act which banned the open carriage of loaded firearms held an armed but peaceful protest in the halls of the California Capitol.

    • This concept is why we have enough guns, need to hoard ammo. Although a constitutional right cannot be taxed, politicians merely see the Constitution as an inconvenient peskiness to be ignored.

      We should hang today’s “innocent” politicians……the unicorn of politicians……for what other guilty politicians did…..Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot. Hitler, Mao, Amin, Castro, et el. The “mass shooter” dead bodies aren’t even within rounding errors of the 100s millions killed by politicians in dis-armed societies. Same concept and end game as punish innocent gun owners for what guilty gun owners did.

      Also, “harden” The White House, Capitol, and every government building to the level of the least hardened school. Kids are America’s future; politicians it’s demise.

  5. Oh, Daily Kos, the world would be so much better off without you!

    This so-called proposal is par for the course over there, and I’m surprised TTAG would link to it and drive traffic their way. If you read the comments, you can see how the leftists view a $100 tax on each bullet not as hyperbole, but as a serious idea, notwithstanding its many obvious practical flaws, easy workarounds, and – of course- blatant disregard for the constitution, fairness, and common sense. The lack of critical thinking skills and unwillingness to learn literally ANYTHING before proposing “solutions” by the “party of science” astounds me.

    • “I’m surprised TTAG would link to it and drive traffic their way“

      I agree, it’s almost as if they’re working together to increase their ad revenue…

      Nah, that’s not it…

    • Yeah, I glanced at the comments, then went to the main page. Look at their keywords at the top of the page. Plus the article was written by JTP42. Setting the absurdity aside, this article probably represents what most of the simpletons on the Left actually believe.

      • “this article probably represents what most of the simpletons on the Left actually believe“

        Dude, you are providing such hilarity, thanks!

        No, this isn’t what anyone on the left believes, it’s actually a satire piece based on a Jonathan Swift essay from 1729.

        It seems that the “simpletons” are people like you who “actually believe” this is a serious proposal.

        “A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick,[1] commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, predominantly Irish Catholic (i.e., “Papists”)[2] as well as British policy toward the Irish in general.“

        I am not surprised that you have difficulty discerning satire from reality, I imagine you believe most of what Donald Trump said as well.

    • Miner, read the comments on the original DKos article and get back to us about who the simpletons are.

    • I live on five acres. Rounds of ammok even the largest big game hunting cartrigdges, are quite small. Bring a big shovel and have fun. No I will NOT serve lunch.

  6. “A Benjamin per EACHY and EVERY bullet.”

    “EACHY” is not even a word unless you consider it as a name given to a ‘mythical’ mystery species of lake monster from a variety of locations in Northern England and Scotland. An Eachy is typically a large humanoid being of gruesome and slimy appearance seen to occasionally emerge from the lake. An Eachy was reported from Windermere in 1873 and Bassenthwaite Lake as late as 1973 when it was supposedly photographed twice. A scientific expedition was launched to find the mystery creature in September 1961, three scientists conducted an underwater exploration of the lake. However, they did not find the 13-foot-long, triple-humped, python-headed creature that had recently been sighted.

    • That’s because he emigrated and ran for Congress, where his slime fills the halls to this day.

    • It’s another term for France, it lasted for about five minutes immediately after the Vichy regime fell.

  7. That really raises the price of .22LR per box…could make a morning at the range a tad expensive!

    I wonder what the American Aristocracy has planned for those hundreds of billions of dollars…oh, yeah, more “Free Shi…tuff” for The People.

    (we know that this is a fantasy because Democrats wouldn’t dream of spending massive amounts of $$ before they actually had it in hand)

    • Each $1 dollar in new taxes is justification for $10 dollars in new spending. Taxes are a facade. Taxes don’t mean anything when they just print and borrow however much they want. They don’t realize that there’s a limit to everything and the bill always comes due.

  9. Hilarious, ‘JTP42’ really appreciates you giving huge promotion for his 15 minutes of fame.

    Really, it is worthy of mentioning or propagating? You don’t seem to realize you’re playing right into this drama queens hands, by posting and reposting his drivel because he apparently got your panties all in a wad.

    JTP42? Seriously? Well, I don’t think anyone here really counted on TTAG for serious journalism in any case.

    • How much does ShareBlue pay you each month? Wonder what David Brock is paying these days.

    • Go away. Get a new hobby. Leave normal people alone. You accomplish nothing other than stimulating your gross contrarian fetish. No one is impressed, you just disgust everyone. Get help.

    • Being a persistent troll in a blog’s comment section for many years is not a normal activity. You are not mentally healthy. Seek out care for your ailment before you hurt yourself or someone else.

      • “Being a persistent troll“

        Interesting insight into your thought process, you consider a “troll” as one who posts factual information that is at odds with your cherished opinions.

        • No, but then that would not apply to you, in any event. You’d have to fulfill that “posts factual information” part. Tell us again about Article I, Section 8 authorizing universal federal gun control, you pathetic quarter-wit.

    • I have to say I agree with Miner49er here. When kids do and say stupid things, the adult way to handle it is to ignore it and move on. This article is clearly designed to get a rise out of the 2A’ers and it works. The article is clearly BS and I am not going to bother with this one…

      • You don’t think they want to ban it by making it too expensive? Do you ever wonder why gas is so expensive? The Puppet said we’re going through a transition.

        A House Democrat plans to introduce a bill that would hit AR-15s with a 1,000% tax — and it could pass Congress without GOP votes
        https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-house-democrat-plans-to-introduce-a-bill-that-would-hit-ar-15s-with-a-1000-25-tax-e2-80-94-and-it-could-pass-congress-without-gop-votes/ar-AAY6k4M

        Limits on ammunition could be enforced in the way that car license plates are handled. Police scan plates from patrol cars and get immediate results from a national database. Anyone wishing to buy ammunition would go to a store – internet sales would be banned – and a driver’s license or other document would be entered into a database.
        https://www.yahoo.com/now/opinion-forget-gun-control-time-030511542.html

        • “Do you ever wonder why gas is so expensive?“

          It could not be Biden, he doesn’t run the oil companies or set their prices.

          The oil companies are the ones who control the prices, I wonder how they’re doing during these tough financial times for American citizens?

          “Shell earnings triple to $9.1 billion
          In the first quarter, Shell’s adjusted earnings rose to $9.1 billion from $3.2 billion in the same period last year. Net income rose to $7.3 billion from $5.8 billion in last year’s first quarter.

          BP records $6.2 billion profit, double profit over same time last year
          BP posted its highest quarterly profit in over a decade – with the British energy company announcing on Tuesday that its underlying replacement cost profit rose to $6.2 billion in the first three months of this year, more than doubling the $2.6 billion from the same period last year.

          Exxon doubles profits from last year to $5.48 billion
          At the end of April, Exxon Mobil reported $5.48 billion in profits during the first quarter of 2022 – also more than doubling its profits compared with the same period last year.”

          Gee, it’s great to see the fossil fuel corporations standing shoulder to shoulder with patriotic Americans, facing these tough economic times together!

        • “Anyone wishing to buy ammunition would go to a store – internet sales would be banned – and a driver’s license”

          That’s how it was when I was growing up, you showed ID to buy ammo. And the LGSs here would only sell pistol ammo to those 21 and over.

          It wasn’t a big deal, and no one thought their freedoms were in jeopardy.

        • “The oil companies are the ones who control the prices”

          The market sets the price. Supply and demand, as well as speculation, affects the market. Government intervention can, and does, affect all of that. That is what is happening. Biden said he was going to end the fossil fuels industry. Then he said we are in a transition period. Are you trying to say that the oil companies suddenly became twice as greedy since the Puppet assumed office? Are you really that much of a simpleton or do you never get tired of lying?

          P.S. Are you comparing profits to the Covid lock down tyranny era?

    • MINOR Miner49er You consider yourself, what? I know what most of consider you. A Bull Shi* Artist.

  11. The left keeps screaming about their constitutional right of abortion so we should tax each abortion at $100,000.

    • Less abortion means more icky poor people. It’s best to just put them out of their misery early on. Plus, wise Janet Yellen said eliminating access to abortion would have damaging effects on the economy. You see, we have to kill more babies or we won’t be able to afford that big screen tv or the latest smartphone. I mean, what’s more important here? Priorities.

      • when did YOU get elected or appointed to replace God? So YOU now decide who lives and how dies?

        • Sometimes I’m a smart ass to make a point. Sometimes it just comes out that way, like a tic.

    • We need a tax stamp for voting.
      Make it the same as a suppressor NFA item.
      Around $200 sounds good, a year to process, felons need not apply. 🤔

      • 38 states allow convicted felons to vote and two states even allow felons to vote from inside of a prison.

  13. Freedom haters than want nothing less than the complete and total ban of all guns and private gun ownership itself and desire the government to confiscate all guns by force all kill every single solitary gun owner in the country even if they have to use nukes to do it (and this is what they want and are willing to do to get it) have been talking about ammo taxes since at least 2007. I hope they step up the rhetoric. Make there demands insane so there is no compromise and everything falls apart again. It is a predicable cycle.

    • How about you tax this di¢k?

      No more taxes, no more regulations. We will not comply.

  14. This is coming from the party of voting poll taxes. They love having second class citizens. In case you haven’t noticed, the plan is to make fossil fuels too expensive for average people to use, but not too expensive for the elitists that make the rules. They’re too important to make sacrifices for the environment. That’s your job.

    • “the plan is to make fossil fuels too expensive for average people to use, but not too expensive for the elitists“

      You may be right, someone has posted video of a meeting between the CEO of Exxon, a representative of the Rothschild banking multinational and our United States president, meeting with the king of Saudi Arabia.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f35TUFmCtYY

      • Of course, why didn’t I think of that? It’s Orange Man Bad’s fault that everything went to shit after the Puppet assumed office. That’s always the answer, no matter the question.

  15. How about we charge that jerk a Benjamin for every word he writes while exercising his 1st amendment?

  16. Well, be sure to sue every rep who would vote for this when there’s an unintended victim after a DGU.

    I can hear it now…………
    ‘Your honor, I’m unable to maintain my firearm proficiency skills due to an unjust tax on my Constitutionally protected 2nd A right’.

    • Golly I try to buy ammo every time I get paid. A hunert bucks a boo-lit would put a crimp in my buying. Another Dimtard idea…

    • DGU?

      I’m glad you’re finally taking notice of the high number of Domesticviolence Gun Use incidents, it’s a real problem.

  17. I am going to make a fortune on this, between casting and reloading. I’ll be able to quit my day job. I need to put in a big order with midway to fill in some blanks before this goes into effect 😉

    • Don’t forget to take out a $10,000 dollar student loan while you’re at it. The Puppet wants to buy votes, I mean forgive that debt. That’s the story anyway. It might go away after the midterm elections. Then, it will pop back up again in 2024.

  18. This is funny…that kind of a suggestion is total class warfare and goes against the left’s equality jihad.
    If you can afford the ammo + the ammo tax, you must be a good person who can be trusted. The poor are clearly unworthy and can’t be trusted with weapons.
    You just can’t make up this level of hypocrisy.

  19. Unfortunately the “gun Community” long ago agreed with the gun grabbers. When they started using the term “cheap Saturday night special”. This was a big mistake. There are certainly gun makers who spend more time designing and perfecting the products that they produce.

    Many “smart” people would never purchase a Heritage single action cowboy gun. Or a High Point. Or a Jimenez. Or even a Sccy handgun. A $100 or $150 firearm might the only thing folks can afford at the time. My Hi Point 45 cost me $145 new in the box. Ten years ago. The Heritage I bought two years ago was $99 used. Four years ago I bought my Daniel Defense AR-15 brand new in the box.

    This is really crazy thinking. Because we don’t think like this when it comes to buying our first car. We buy something that we can afford. And have it inspected to make sure it’s going to be reliable. And I don’t know anyone that will turn down low-cost ammunition. If you are then you are a fool. As long as it works in your gun.

    Btw
    I heard on a gun podcast that 30% of the ammunition sold in the United States comes from Russia. Or use to come from Russia. And people always said “that was just cheap ammunition”.
    Well when 30% of the supply goes away. Guess how much you’re going to be paying for bullets then???

    • I know plelnty of follks who bought Russian MilSurp ammo that fit their own guns, and it works as well as the Greek 7.62 x 59 milsurp in the spam cans. One friend feeding his Bringback M 1 Garand has gone through several of those spam cans not one issue. I’ve got a fair bit uf TulAmo, and it works fine. Any round that doesn’t rfire, simply rack the action and see if the next one works. I’ve had FtoF on even the expensive US made quality stuff.
      Ya pays yer nickel and ya takes yer chances.

  21. I’ll counter with another modest proposal. We should tax stupid. Dems will be crying all across America!

    • powder was so difficult to get this side the water some smart folks started manufacturing it here, where the Brits could not get to it.
      But Gage’s original game to prevent the Colonials from standing up against him was to confiscate their powder. The Lexington/Concord incident was his fourth, and least successful powder raid yet. seems he got a lot more of the colonials’ powder than he’d bargained for… touched off in long guns aimed at his troops. As should be.

  27. Only if we can tax this jackass $1 for every letter of every word he posts.

    Taxing one right opens the door to taxing them all. Turnabout is fair play, no?

  28. A fantastic idea as part of a horse trade.

    I propose we accept this deal provided that every vote for a Democrat shall be taxed at $1,000,000 and every word spoken in furtherance of a Democrat cause at $10.

    Of course, we can use normal government methods for determining what is and what is not “furtherance” so a statement like “Fuck Joe Biden” is free but “I don’t think Joe’s really at fault for the current situation because he’s senile” will be classed as pro-Democrat speech and billed at $140.

    Oh, and all taxes in the latter two regards are retroactive back to 1950.

    Those who cannot pay in full within 30 days will have everything they own sold at auction with the proceeds to go towards their tax debt. Those who have not paid in full after that will shall be remitted to prison to break rocks at $0.10/hour until the debt is paid.

    And like other tax issues, of course the family is liable for unpaid debts under the same rules.

    Those over 30 may pay the cost in full via an act of contrition in involving a signed statement renouncing their former position followed by immediate self-termination in a method to be determined based on their debt at the time of the act.

  29. Enough. Not the first time there has been ambiguity to say the least.
    Have a Nice Life

  30. I’d go one better ban all ammuntion over 9mm NATO for handguns and all but 5-shot magazine rifles. Nbody to own more than 50 rounds of ammo at any one time. Nobody need even for self defence anything other than a reasonable 9mm and they only actually need one those, for ‘self defence’. If that’s all 90% of the worlds PROFESSIONAL POLICE OFFICERS and ARMED SERVICES need why would wannabe Rambo’s need antyhing different.? Nobody needs more than a 5 shot rifle for hunting either. If you cannot stalk and put down game, even the biggest of big game, with a suitable ‘five shot bolt action rifle you really should not be bloody hunting in the first place.
    It might also be an idea that everybody who owns a firearm is conscripted for two weeks in their own time a year to military service if they are so bloody keen to DEFEND the NATION against ficticious ‘enemies’.
    In SWITZERLAND for excample everey male under 65 has an issued ASSAULT RIFLE at home with a suitable ammount of ammuntion, a uniform and sutable equiptment for instant ‘call-up’ and has to undergo AT LEAST two weeks training a year and additional range practices.
    I bet lmost people are not aware that the SWISS MILITARY are the ‘GUARANTORS’ of the SWISS CONSTITUTION.

    So is the MILITARY of TURKEY. When KEMAL ATTATURK [the FATHER of the TURKS] set about bringing TURKEY into the 20th Century and out of a 90% illiteracy rate it was the SWISS Model of Government he adapted to his use.

    I always feel that it doe no harm to introduce some history into my entries on these pages

      • I like Albert Hall. I read all his shit post. It’s good to hear how someone in the U.K. would fix our gunm violence(?)problems.

        • Here I figured you were closely studying mental illness to find the people you could lure in front of trucks to get a quick meal.

  32. Well this is about the dumbest thing I will read today, probably. Maybe ever.

    You want $100k builders grade bathroom sinks, because this is how you get them. $2.5M low end refrigerators? $35M dollar basic vehicles? It’s almost like the leftists have no idea how or what common use objects are made of.

    Shudders at the thought of $100 tax on every strand of wire braided into a cable in a car wiring harness or every ingot that goes into the drive train & body. Not sure if willfully stupid, or simply that detached from reality.

  33. Grace Stevens is clueless. Anyone thinking of more ways to give the Government more money when they are fiscally irresponsible to start with needs to go see a therapist. We spend over 300 billion a year on illegals at a cost of $2500 per citizen per year. So, when you see the price of gas, food, and other items go out of sight just remember we are subsidizing illegals while you are having a hard time paying your bills. Go figure.

  34. And except in hunting, target shooting, and self defense, every bullet fired has a separate charge of at least attempted murder each with mandatory minimum sentences and minimum fine of $10,000.

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