In 2017 alone, gun violence claimed 40,000 lives, injuring around twice as many in the United States, making it the 11th leading cause of death in, ahead of liver related, drug induced and alcohol related deaths. Off this about 24,000 were suicides and roughly 16,000 homicides, including over 2,000 mass shootings in public areas, government buildings and schools. This alarming rate of deaths can be attributed to high gun ownership in the United states, with about 393 million guns owned by civilians across the country. This is estimated to be more than twice the number of guns owned by all of the world’s militaries combined.
Such alarming statistics have led a large percentage of the population to be against civilian gun ownership, with over 60% of the people favouring stricter gun laws, according to a recent study. Which begs the question, why has nothing been done about it so far? Keeping common sense aside for a minute, lets analyse this question like any other, by looking at the economics behind guns in the United states.
The revenues from gun ownership
The firearms industry itself is worth about $28 billion. Off this gun manufactures rake in $17 B and gun stores earn abound $11 B. Achieving a growth of 4.5% per year the fire arms sector outpaces the US annual GDP growth of 2.3% and generates $ 6 Billion in taxes for the government. With an estimated 100 manufacturers and over 65,000 dealers/stores, there are more gun dealers in the U.S. than grocery stores (38,015), McDonald’s (14,350), total coffee shops (55,246), and almost 6 for every Starbucks (10,843). The industry directly employs 3 hundred thousand people paying over $ 15 B in salaries annually.
Besides the direct impact on the economy, firearms have also contributed to other sectors including fostering several ancillary industries, such as the security industry, with the security alarm industry valued at $25 B and schools spending $2.7 B on security annually. Personal and public safety training companies, that specialize in areas such as “being safe during mass shootings” are thriving. The US homeland security spends $65 B on protecting its citizens from domestic threats, while this cannot be directly attributed to gun ownership, there are few countries that spend close to as much. The overall impact of firearms on the united states economy was assessed to be $52 Billion by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The costs of gun ownership
The costs of gun ownership to the country is harder to estimate. Some direct costs due to gun ownership that can be quantified easily include medical costs, law enforcement, prison costs and legal costs. These costs were assessed to be about $ 9 billion by the Giffords Law centre. Costs such as loss of life, loss of economic activity, destruction of public property, etc were estimated to be $220 B. Taking the total costs of legalising guns in the economy to $229 B. This still does not include some other costs such as personal trauma, reduction in tourism, opportunity costs of government agencies, federal bodies and law enforcement that are engaged in dealing with the gun epidemic, and a lack of personal sense of security. While quantifying these costs posts a challenge, they are significant issues when dealing with the problem at hand.
As seen above, the costs clearly outweigh the benefits of legalising guns in the economy. Why then, can someone on the country’s terror watchlist walk into a store and easily purchase a military grade semi – automatic weapon? The answer is simple. A well thought out, carefully planned and super effective ongoing campaign by an organisation called the National Rifle Association (NRA).
What is the NRA?
The NRA is a gun rights advocacy group founded in 1871, to initially “promote and encourage riffle shooting on a scientific basis” for troops in the post civil war era.
They have since become one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, that lobby to protect and promote the interests of gun owners. However, they have been often criticized as a group that protects the interests of the gun manufacturers rather than its members. Referring to themselves as a community with over 5 million members, they have a 24 hour cable tv channel, produce content on streaming services, own and operate gun museums, sponsor various firearm safety workshops for adults and kids, regularly organise camps and events, and host an annual event with various gun exhibits and manufacturers, that saw ~ 1 lakh attendees in 2018, for their members.
As of early September 2019, the city of San Francisco has designated the NRA as a “Domestic Terror Organisation”.
What do they do?
The NRA Helps elect pro gun candidates – They have spent record amounts as political donations to political candidates, and openly endorsing candidates who align their stance on guns to the NRA’s. They spend particularly large amounts electing candidates whose opponents are strong anti gun advocates, and have run extensive smear campaigns against such politicians. They even donated $30 million to Donald Trump’s election campaign.
They also spend large amounts of money rallying support any time an anti gun bill come up for vote or is even being discussed.They have successfully hijacked the gun control conversation – The NRA has turned the entire gun control conversation such that any attempt to limit or regulate guns is now seen as an attack on the constitutional right of Americans to bear fire arms. They have even successfully lobbied to kill any government funded research into gun violence.
How do they pay for it?
In 2018 the NRA has a declared revenue of $ 412,233,508 of which a significant amount is from annual membership fees from their over 5 million members. Other sources of income include donations received from members and other organisations, advertising revenue and royalties.
They organise several fund raising events for political campaings, bypassing regulations for maximun donation limits, by getting donors to donate directly to the campaigns. However while the NRA’s yearly income fluctuates considerably a large spike can be observed during election years.
From their revenues, a large portion ~$ 40 M, in 2017 was paid out to a firm called Ackerman McQueen, an advertising agency based in Oklahoma. They allegedly handled all PR related work for the NRA. They have also paid ~18 million to a firm called Brewer Attorneys & counselors for their legal services. They are believed to spend $3-5 million on lobbying every year. Upon scrutiny of their very vague disclosures, it can be deciphered that they spend large amounts on Inventory, property and equipment, museum collections, programs and events. Their total expenditure for the year 2018 totaled ~420 million. However various leaked documents detail murky accounting practices, large unexplained related party transaction, exorbitant salaries to top management and extravagant expenditure on behalf of their CEO Wayne LaPirre.
Any meaningful solution to Americas gun problem will require massive social, legal and economic reform. While several anti-gun lobby groups have been fairly successful in fund raising, their success in making any meaningful change will depend on their effectiveness in Washington.
While simple economics may not be enough to understand the complexities of a deep rooted socio-cultural issue, it can definitely provide perspective and help us understand the reasons and motivations behind political and social decisions.