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Yes, the US taxpayer should, not unilaterally though, but alongside the other nations who are able to reduce arms caches across the world.

Why should the US taxpayer foot the bill (at least partially)?
Because most of the arms caches in the world came from the USA.

In 1993, for instance, the US sold $31,109,000,000 ($31.1B) worth of weapons, ammunitions, support and spare parts to foreign governments. Granted, that was a high for the 1990's, but the average is still around $15B for the 1990's

For the 21st Century so far - i.e. since 2001, U.S. global military sales have totaled $10 billion to $13 billion. In 2006, the total arms sales agreements was $21 billion and these include surface to air missiles and aircraft carriers sold to developing nations.

What's even more amazing is that the Turkish air force, one of the USA's best customers, already has 215 F-16 fighter planes but plans to buy 100 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The deal is estimated at $10.7 billion over the next 15 years.

So, yes, we're earning a lot of money from selling these arms. We should make efforts to buy them back when they end up in the wrong hands!

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