Most politicians are insane.  How do we know?  If the definition of insanity is, as Albert Einstein observed, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," then many pols belong in the loony bin.

And they ought to reserve a special room for those Seattle politicians who eagerly pushed a $25 tax per gun sold in the city and a 5-cent tax on bullets. 

How's that workin' out for you guys?

Fox News:

When the City of Seattle passed a tax on all sales of guns and ammunition, the measure was hailed as a way to defray the rising costs of gun violence.

But since the tax took effect, those costs have only risen as gun violence in the city has surged. And the tax has apparently brought in much less than city leaders projected it would.

"How much data do you need?" asked Dave Workman, senior editor of TheGunMag.com and member of the Second Amendment Foundation. "The data says the law has failed to prevent what they promised it would prevent."

Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess introduced the tax in 2015. It puts a $25 tax on every firearm sold in the city and up to 5 cents per round of ammunition. The measure easily passed and took effect January 1, 2016. Comparing the first five months of 2017 with the same period before the gun tax went into effect, reports of shots fired are up 13 percent, the number of people injured in shootings climbed 37 percent and gun deaths doubled, according to crime statistics from the Seattle Police Department.

Councilman Burgess never returned calls and emails for comment. Dana Robinson Slote, director of communication for Seattle City Council, said she was "politely declining your invitation for an interview."

Not exactly a profile in courage.  But what about all that tax money that was going to defray the costs of gun violence?

In selling his gun tax to the public, Burgess predicted it would generate between $300,000 and $500,000 annually. The money would be used to study the root causes of gun violence in hopes of reducing the costs to taxpayers.

Seattle officials refuse to say how much the tax brought in the first year, only giving the number "under $200,000." Gun rights groups have sued to get the exact amount.

But Mike Coombs, owner of Outdoor Emporium, the last large gun dealer left in Seattle, said the actual tax revenue is almost certainly just over $100,000, a figure based on information he says the city shared with his lawyers.

Coombs said storewide, sales are down 20 percent while gun sales have plummeted 60 percent.

"I've had to lay off employees because of this," Coombs said. "It's hurting us, it's hurting our employees."

Here's where the definition of insanity applies.  Politicians always tell us that a tax will collect far more than it actually does.  This despite the fact that if you tax something, you get less of it.  This is true whether they raise taxes on guns, liquor, cigarettes, or anything else that politicians dream up to separate cash from those who earn it.

But with fewer guns, how is it possible that shootings have gone up?  Duh.  I can assure you that criminals are not paying a $25 tax on every gun they buy.  But it may deter law-abiding citizens from purchasing protection.  Put two and two together – something politicians can never quite figure out – and the results are predictable.

That the politicians responsible for this failure refuse to own up to it is not surprising.  That they refuse to release data on how much the tax has raised is reminiscent of the inner workings of a banana republic.  The liberals who dreamed up this ignorant scheme won't pay at the ballot box for their titanic errors, but that doesn't mean that the rational among us can't point out their insanity and stupidity for their efforts to derail the Second Amendment rights of citizens.