re ban all firearms in article apr gnv ifas ufl edu jrm gnv ifas ufl edu writes in article apr sco com allanh sco com allan j heim writes papresco undergrad math uwaterloo ca paul prescod drugs are banned please tell me when this supply will dry up drugs are easier to manufacture easier to smuggle easier to hide no comparison then let s use another example alcoholic beverages bottles of whiskey are larger heavier and more fragile than bags of drugs barrels and kegs are larger and heavier still and are difficult to manipulate yet a lot of people managed to get very rich off of the smuggling of booze into this country during the years of prohibition there was a demand so an entire industry formed to supply it if alcohol were again banned today it would be much more difficult to manage a large scale smuggling operation the cops now rank just a narrow notch below the military in communications intelligence gathering and firepower in a similar vein the amount of marijuana smuggled into this country has greatly decreased this is because its value per pound is very low when compared to cocaine or heroin it s simply not worth the risk it s uneconomical now most reefer is domestic there is less pressure on the domestic producer showy raids notwithstanding and thus it is economical here s a question if most marijuana is domestic and producing it here is economical why would we expect it to be imported of note though domestic reefer is now very strong so a small volume goes a long way you cannot make alcohol stronger than proof not a good dollar pound deal yet it was done done quite successfully for a number of years somebody thought it was worth the risk firearms tend to fall into this low dollar pound area it would not be economic to smuggle them in your assumption is that this low dollar pound area is sufficiently low as to make gun running unprofitable on what do you base this and given that smuggling channels are already established and given the economies of scale would it really add significantly more expense to start smuggling firearms especially considering doing so would be less hazardous in terms of getting caught than drugs all production would have to be local now that was a jump in any case define local it s a big country there are not all that many people who have both the skill and motivation to assemble worthwhile firearms from scratch high ranking crime figures could obtain imported uzis and such but the average person and average thug would be lucky to get a zip gun and would pay through the nose for it wow you gotta love the speculation as i posted before we import billions upon billions of raw ores across the mexican border not only that but ships come in and out of u s harbors every day full stuff and customs doesn t even have the extra advantage of being able to sniff them out i d be willing to wager that a shipload of handguns would be worth more than a shipload of raw ore and you re virtually guaranteed to get it past customs because they d have to hand search every hold of every ship which came through it s not simply a matter of how much money are they worth but how much more money are they worth than other goods based on the likelihood of being caught less money than drugs but also a safer thing to smuggle david veal univ of tenn div of cont education info services group pa utkvm utk edu i still remember the way you laughed the day your pushed me down the elevator shaft i m beginning to think you don t love me anymore weird al
