Washington Post columnist Matt Miller has a good idea (well, it’s an idea he borrowed from Australia, Oakland, New York, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles and others): buy guns to get them out of circulation. The difference between past efforts and Miller’s proposal? This time we go BIG and make it a Cash for Clunkers style stimulus.
If Congress balks at banning certain weapons entirely, theres an all-American answer: Make gun owners an offer they can’t refuse. Instead of a measly $200 a gun, Uncle Sam might offer $500. After all, overpaying powerful constituencies to achieve public policy goals is a time-honored American tradition; we do it every day with Medicare drug benefits and defense contractors, to name just two.
So imagine a $100 billion, one-time program aimed at buying back 200 million firearms at $500 a pop. We issue the payments in prepaid credit cards that expire in three months (good thinking, Los Angeles!) to be sure the money is spent fast.
Presto! So long as the federal money is borrowed, we get an immediate boost to demand, jobs and growth. And with long-term interest rates at all-time lows, there’s never been a better time for the feds to overpay gun owners and get these weapons out of circulation. The president can even pitch selling a gun to Uncle Sam as a patriotic act part of a national rethinking of our gun culture in the wake of Newtown.
Matt Miller: Buy back guns, boost the economy – The Washington Post