Today, most Americans will agree that the poll tax was a hideous government tool used to deny basic freedoms to an entire segment of society. Many states used the tax as a way of regulating who would be permitted to vote. Today, there is still a "poll tax" of sorts, that some states use to infringe on people's Constitutional freedoms. It is the tax on firearm's ownership.

Crime ridden Liberal Utopias (or is it Utopei) like New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago severely restrict a person's right to keep and bear arms. In D.C. there is a blanket ban, which will hopefully be defeated as an outright Second Amendment violation. Places like New York City, on the other hand, use more covert methods to limit people's freedoms.

As I stated earlier this week, possessing a firearm within New York City requires a permit. While the New York Post rightly notes that the process is so arduous, people seldom bother, the "tax" on owning a firearm is largely ignored. Packing.org reports that the cost of a gun permit in New York City is a whopping $244, which is more than a lot of guns cost. Even if you are willing to wait 6 months, sit through an interview, and can justify your 'reason' for 'needing' a gun, you still have to pony up a month's worth of groceries before the city grants you 'permission' to own it.

Fellow gun nut, Kim DuToit notes that getting a permit to own a firearm in New York City is so difficult, that the "law-abiding are scared away from getting a gun in the first place," which is "precisely the purpose of New York's gun laws." Just like the poll tax, the restrictive laws are purposely set up to be a barrier to the Second Amendment. They have been purposely constructed to prevent firearm's ownership by law abiding citizens. New York City has repealed the Second Amendment, not openly and callously like Washington D.C. has, but discretely so that they do not attract too much attention. Of course, the grand irony is that criminals ignore the law, and walk around freely with guns, while law abiders are left to cower in fear.

A Liberal Utopia indeed.