NomNomMore Smokers Quit After Big Hike in California Tobacco Tax
So this sounds like a good idea and I was a big supporter of it when the prices here in Australia went up, but I was wrong. We increased the prices with the thought that this would reduce uptake for young people and increase quitting or at least reduce use in older people. Instead we ended up creating a black market for untaxed tobacco. Since then we have had a massive increase in the level of gang activity. This means a fair few young people getting involved with these gangs and ending up committing crimes and going through the “justice” system. We have had drive by shootings, stabbings, abductions, and recently a mistaken abduction of the wrong person resulting in his dismemberment and death.
Increasing the price a little can have an impact but once you cross a threshold the criminal side becomes much more attractive and things become dire. The increase in people quitting may be because people have quit smoking, and I sincerely hope that is it, but in my opinion it is likely a significant portion of the change is a reduction of legal tobacco use and an increase in black market tobacco use.
Drive by shootings? In Australia?! How is that possible, didn’t you guys ban guns 30yr ago?
Super bad guys still get guns. The rich and powerful, good or bad, can have whatever they want.
So only the good people can’t get them but the bad people still can? Poor people can’t protect themselves but rich people can because of course they’re better than us? Sounds like a good plan I guess.
But I was led to believe that was impossible, that if you make them illegal nobody but the police (who we all trust, right?) will have them.
Good people can get guns but it takes effort and people who bother aren’t the social media butterfly type. The bondi shooting guns were legally obtained by one of the terrorist the laws have already been adjusted and are under continuous review. Basically everyone who owns cattle or other livestock has a gun for taking care of snakes and putting down injured animals. For suburban guns you can google your local gun club then go join if you jump through the hoops you can then start shooting and then work your way up to ownership. Most people that are in gun clubs are actually cops, military or in some other way work around weapons because the average person doesn’t care about owning or shooting guns. It’s really a general matter of the people with the temperament to own a gun in australia are also people with the temperament that doesn’t make social media posts about it so it.