MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
To solve the real problem (keeping guns out of the wrong hands-without
restricting other people) we must use an idea that has worked to limit
losses from many other hazards: insurance. That's right, insurance, the
system of risk-management contracts that lets people take responsibility
for choices they make that impose risks on others.
Comments
I posted this link in a comment but I think the idea deserves more exposure. At least I hope so. Are there obvious faults to this proposal?
by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 12/18/2012 - 9:12pm
I've heard it suggested before. In fact, I believe I heard someone mention it in conservative radio land yesterday. I can't recall what the grounds for rejecting it was, but I think it's a plausible idea. Off the top of my head though, I'm immediately concerned with moral hazard. Really, I think what we want is for people not to get shot. Being able to compensate someone you have shot, or their loved ones in the case that they're killed, is not a superior option to no one getting shot at all. What we would need to be concerned with here is to what extent this could encourage more risky behavior with firearms. If it did, I would argue that's a worse outcome. More people overall shot, yet compensated, does not seem better to me.
by DF on Tue, 12/18/2012 - 9:47pm
I'll repost what I wrote in response to Lulu's original comment:
Your moral-hazard argument misses the point, DF. No one is going to use their gun more recklessly because they are now insured for liability.
The idea is less to compensate victims than to reduce the appeal of guns generally by spreading the cost to society among all gun owners -- the good ones along with the bad, because everyone thinks they are one of the good ones until something snaps.
It's what we do with car ownership, it's what the U.S. now does with health insurance. There's a cost that follows from having so many guns floating around, so it's only fair that those who endorse that situation absorb it. You have three guns, you pay three times as much. Twenty, 20 times. You're still free to own guns, but owning them is no longer free.
by acanuck on Wed, 12/19/2012 - 5:30pm