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Comment by jawns | Hacker News Reader

I always like when op-ed writers point out the main criticism of their argument before their critics have a chance to:

> The most troubling aspect of having the finance industry try to restrict gun sales is that it would push the most dangerous guns into an untraceable world where sales would depend on cash. That’s true. All things considered, though, it would make it considerably harder to even find such guns.

I have no especially strong evidence to either support or refute the last sentence, but my gut reaction is that "considerably harder" is stretching it.

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"...considerably harder to even find such guns."

Why does the author suggest that guns would be any harder to find? The gun shops wouldn't close up shop and suddenly go into hiding. They'll just take cash. If the author wants to suggest that banks stop doing business with gun dealers, forcing them to protect their own cash, the market will respond - potentially with new financial institutions willing to do business with them.

Yeah I'm not opposed to the idea of gun control, but almost every proposal I see in the US is a knee-jerk reaction that is completely ignorant of the existing gun situation in the United States. I see people talking about concealing AR-15's being easier in Florida than a handgun. That's because SBR's already require a federal background check with a ~1 year wait and require tax stamp paperwork to remain with the firearm at all times and can't be moved between state lines without prior written approval from BATFE. And they're used in very few murders compared to handguns. But sure, your background check idea is doing something, so you can feel good while posting selfies with reflections of oncoming traffic in your sunglasses. Meanwhile you can make one from unregistered raw materials and minimal tooling and no one would ever know unless you chose to tell them. Let's use the same ideas we used to ban marijuana!

I don't think that's the biggest criticism of their argument. The real problem is that if banks are allowed to stop people from buying guns, they'll happily turn around and use that power to stop people from buying other things, too. Behind on your mortgage? You probably don't need that bottle of whisky, so let's deny your purchases at liquor stores...

But don't corporations have a moral responsibility to limit our purchases on these things? wink

I live in California, where I can't use a credit card to purchase marijuana. It's "considerably harder" to stop by the ATM on way to my local dispensary. Sometimes there is even a line!

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