Thursday, February 15, 2018

Our Gun Experiment Should be Discontinued

Part of my work sometimes involves long drives. On such days I get a good dose of news - maybe too good of a dose. Yesterday's news of yet another mass shooting at a school was heart rending. Market Place, and NPR show on market/economic issues, mentioned the shooting at the start and end of the show with a repeat of a statement the program made in 2012 and in 2016 that there are more places to buy a gun in the United States than there are Starbucks (marketplace.org/final-note, 2016)  One could quibble over details of what it means to be "a place to buy a gun".

My own thought on this policy issue is that we have essentially performed a giant experiment regarding guns in this country. The results suggest that we may want to call an end to this experiment and try something different. Then again, this may have little to do with policy but a lot more to do with making money.


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