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reasonsforhope · 3 days

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"Starting in July 2024, California will be the first state to charge an excise tax on guns and ammunition. The new tax – an 11% levy on each sale – will come on top of federal excise taxes of 10% or 11% for firearms and California’s [7.5]% sales tax (x).

The National Rifle Association has characterized California’s Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act as an affront to the Constitution. But the reaction from the gun lobby and firearms manufactures may hint at something else: the impact that the measure, which is aimed at reducing gun violence, may have on sales.

As a professor who studies the economics of violence and illicit trades at the University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace Studies, I think this law could have important ramifications.

One way to think about it is to compare state tax policies on firearms with those on alcohol and tobacco products. It’s not for nothing that these all appear in the name of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, also known as ATF...

The ATF focuses on those products because, while legal, they can cause significant harm to society – in the form of drunken driving, for example, or cancer-causing addictions. They also have a common history: All have been associated with criminal organizations seeking to profit from illicit markets.

Alcohol and tobacco products are thus usually subject to state excise taxes. This policy is known as a “Pigouvian tax,” named after 20th-century British economist Arthur Pigou. By making a given product more expensive, such a tax leads people to buy less of it, reducing the harm to society while generating tax revenue that the state can theoretically use to offset those harms that still accrue.

California, for instance, imposes a US$2.87 excise tax on each pack of cigarettes. That tax is higher than the national average but much lower than New York’s $5.35 levy. California also imposed a vaping excise tax of 12.5% in 2021.

Of the three ATF product families, firearms have enjoyed an exemption from California excise taxes. Until now...

How Much Will the Policy Help?

It’s unclear how the new tax will affect gun violence. In theory, the tax should be highly effective. In 2023, some colleagues and I modeled the U.S. market for firearms and determined that for every 1% increase in price, demand decreases by 2.6%. This means that the market should be very sensitive to tax increases.

Using these estimates, another colleague recently estimated that the California excise tax would reduce gun sales by 30% to 44%. If applied across the country, the tax could generate an additional $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion in government revenue.

One possible problem will come from surrounding states: It’s already easy to illegally transport guns bought in Nevada, where laws are more lax, to the Golden State.

But there’s some evidence that suggests California’s stringent policies won’t be neutralized by its neighbors.

When the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, making it much easier to buy AR- and AK-style rifles across much of the U.S., gun murders across the border in Mexico skyrocketed. Two studies show the exception was the Mexican state of Baja California, right across the border with California, which had kept its state-level assault weapons ban in place.

Gun seizures in Mexico show that all four U.S. states bordering Mexico rank in the top five state sources of U.S.-sold guns in Mexico. But California contributes 75% less than its population and proximity would suggest.

So, California laws seem to already be making a difference in reducing gun violence. I believe the excise tax could accomplish still more. Other states struggling against the rising tide of guns will be watching closely."

-via The Conversation, May 21, 2024

#cw gun violence #cw guns #tw gun violence #guns #gun violence #firearms #california #united states #us politics #mexico #good news #hope

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sscarletvenus · 3 days

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not even 12 hours ago the iof dropped THREE hellfire missiles - each equipped with blades designed to shed victims to bits and scraps - on a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance in Tel Sultan area, Rafah.

the crew inside the aid convoy has been killed by the entity's cruel, cowardly forces. the martyred are paramedics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna, as has been confirmed by the PRCS.

literally nothing has changed. multiple war crimes aren't enough for the apartheid state to be isolated and punished

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legendarytragedynacho · 1 day

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Salma Hayek - Santanico Pandemonium - From Dusk till Dawn, 1996

#salma hayek #santanico pandemonium #from dusk till dawn #actress #fashion model #beauty #movie star #film photography #mexican actress #mexico #quentin tarantino #martin scorsese

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2goldensnitches · 1 day

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I went over to the israeli embassy residence after work on wednesday to see the aftermath of the protest—tldr wasn’t pretty but at least no house got burned down

For context, the area (lomas-reforma-polanco) it’s in is residential, very posh, and several ambassadors and their staff have official homes scattered around its environs. The main russian ambassadorial home is literally around the corner to the israeli ambassador’s (curiously hardly anyone shows up to protest there), and close by are also the main irish, pakistani, thai, italian, british, norwegian, french, algerian, japanese, hungarian, egyptian, syrian, american, iranian, peruvian, palestinian (yes, there’s been a palestinian consul for ages in mexico), turkish, venezuelan, swiss, swedish, armenian, emirati, qatari, saudi, nicaraguan, indian, salvadorian, argentinian, and jamaican ambassadorial residences (i might even take pics later unless they arrest me for it lel)

For added context, all israeli attachés have been under police protection since october, with at least two squad cars guarding them. The main residence has these huge pictures of the hostages on its façade and is cordoned off by safety railing. Normal pedestrian activity isn’t encouraged so you have to use the other side of the street unless you’re there to see the ambassador. The residence is neighbour to private homes (barring the russian embassy’s) and the anglican church’s bishop (? Idk how they’re called) lives right across and also manages services there.

I took pictures and talked to a reporter from milenio news onsite about the incident. Around 16 police were injured because right off the bat hooded and masked protesters threw rocks and molotovs—the safety rails looked a little charred but not destroyed.

The worst bit was that, since the protesters couldn’t storm the embassy residence like they clearly wanted to, they vandalised the surrounding homes with graffiti, including a swastika and “zionazi”

i’m not sure how this is supposed to help Palestine other than now several families have to paint over graffiti over a war they have no involvement in and hate speech is on their walls

the walls of the Anglican Church residence were also vandalised

and after they were done, the protesters apparently moved down reforma and also vandalised a cafeteria, which, again, I’m not sure how that helps Palestine

#mexico #israel hamas war #antisemitism #radikewl politics are exhausting

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sunshineandlyrics · 11 hours

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🇲🇽 the details in the graphic on the exclusive merch for FITFWT Mexico City, 30 May 2024 x x x

#Mexico #angel of independence #victory #FITFWT Mexico City #Louis Tomlinson #Louis merch #1 June 2024 #mine

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palestinegenocide · 1 day

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The Mexico-Israel connection: repression and resistance

While the Mexican government has looked toward Israel for help in repressing dissent, Indigenous communities and activists see a common cause with Palestine as “todos somos Palestina'' has reverberated across the country since October.

[link]

#free gaza #israel #gaza strip #israel is a terrorist state #gaza #gazaunderattack #genocide #palestine #jerusalem #free palestine #mexico

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fuckyeahmexico · 3 days

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Protesta en la embajada de israel por ataques en Gaza

Manifestantes y policía capitalina se enfrentaron en la embajada de Israel en protesta por los recientes bombardeos al campo de refugiados en Rafah.

En los videos compartidos en redes sociales por lxs asistentes a la manifestación ‘Acción urgente por Rafah’, se observa cómo desde la zona donde se encuentran los policías que intentan replegar la protesta lanzado gas y humo de extintores, mientras las personas intentan quitar unas vallas metálicas y gritan “Desde el río hasta el mar, Palestina vencerá” y “asesinos”.

Como respuesta al repliege con gas y humo de la policía, manifestantes lanzaron algunas bombas molotov contra la zona de la embajada israelí el martes.

La BDS México reportó que al menos dos manifestantes tenían heridas graves en la cabeza, y dio a conocer el caso de Rossel, un estudiante de la UNAM que tiene una fractura en el cráneo por la represión policial.

La SSC no brindó información sobre manifestantes heridos.

#mexico #palestina

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tropic-havens · 3 days

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