A Very Expensive Christmas Card; or, How Much Does an M60 Cost, Anyway?
Earlier this week, writer and historian David Perry asked reporters to compare the amount of money Republican politicians spend on guns to the amount of money Democrats spend on cookware (a reference to this recent Fox News item, which was ultimately covered in dozens of news outlets). I thought Perry’s idea was a good one, so I decided to price out a recent, high-profile example*.
I opted to use the recent Christmas card photo shared by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on social media as the illustrative example. There are seven people in the photo. Three are seated on a sofa, the other four stand behind them. All seven are holding firearms.
We’ll start in the back row, moving from left to right. (I’ll include links sourcing the costs for each gun.)
First up is what I believe to be an H&K G36 assault rifle. A replica will run you around $500. The real deal will cost more like $2,700.
Next is what looks like an FN FNC (FN Herstal’s Fabrique Nationale Carabine). That will run you $3,000. Maybe as low as $2,000, if you get it at auction and there’s not much bidding action.
The last two folks on the back row are holding what appear to be two AR15s. Those will run you between $700 and $1,200 a piece. So, if they’re both AR15s, it would cost $1,400–2,400 for the pair. However, if the leftmost of those two is an M16, which is possible, that’s more expensive. You’re looking at $2,400–4,100 for an M16. If you add that to the cost of one AR15, the price range becomes $3,100–5,300 for the pair. (In Kentucky, where Massie lives, there are no state laws restricting ownership of machine guns, such as M16s. However, under federal law, it’s extremely difficult to legally obtain a machine gun made after 1986.)
On to the front row!
Starting on the left, you’ve got an M60 machine gun. Buying a legally transferable M60 is pricey. It will run you between $50,000 and $60,000. (That’s substantially more than the U.S. median income for an individual, which was only $34,100 in 2019 — the most recent year I could find numbers for.)
Next to the M60 is an UZI. That’s somewhere between $1,100 and $1,900, with an average market price of around $1,700.
The last gun pictured appears to be a Thompson M1SB, the submachine gun also termed a “Tommy Gun” — but without the distinctive ammo drum. It’ll run you between $1,200 and $2,200.
Time for some quick math! If we add up the cost range for all of those weapons, it comes to a price tag of between $56,200 and $75,100.
That’s well over the median income in the U.S.
It’s a darn sight more than a few hundred dollars for cookware.
And, to the best of my knowledge, nobody’s ever committed mass murder with a serving dish.
[*I am not a reporter, though I used to be.]
