Anti-gun municipal politicians have seized on a new financial weapon in their crusade to discourage gun ownership and to drive firearms retailers either out of town or out of business.

It’s the “gun violence tax” — better known among 2A activists as the “Second Amendment tax” or, more appropriately, “Tyranny Tax” — and it has so far dug itself in like a tick in Cook County, Illinois and two cities in Washington State. This fall it might be coming to a city or county near you.

The formula is simple. This tax slaps a $25 fee on the sale of each firearm and adds a 5-cent charge on each round of centerfire ammunition and 2 cents on each round of rimfire ammo. This means an additional dollar on the price of a 20-round box of rifle or handgun cartridges, $1.25 on a typical 25-round box of shotgun shells and two bucks on the price of a 100-round plastic box of .22 Long Rifle ammunition.

Seattle, which is “Ground Zero” of Northwest gun prohibition politics, adopted the tax back in 2015. Three years later, the Tacoma City Council, despite overwhelming opposition at two public meetings, followed suit. The tax was sponsored by three officials including Mayor Victoria Woodards. Just to underscore how closed-minded she was about this tax, during an interview with KCPQ reporter Brandi Kruse, the mayor was asked what she would say to the law-abiding gun owner who isn’t responsible for the criminal acts of others:
“That’s like saying, ‘My car is in the driveway and I only drive it two days a week, not seven days a week, but every time I go to the gas station, I still have to pay the tax when I fill it up.”

Does this make sense to you? Not to me either, and not to local radio host Dori Monson at Seattle’s KIRO, who called it “a ridiculous analogy.”

But this is how these anti-gun-rights public officials think, and how they explain it to their essentially close-minded supporters.
Tacoma’s tax is scheduled to take effect July 1.

Just for the record, the Seattle gun tax consistently has pulled in declining revenues. Where the “sales pitch” forecast was between $300,000 and $500,000 annually, the actual revenues were $103,766 the first year, $93,220 the second year and $77,518 the third year. Meanwhile, the number of homicides climbed from 18 during the first year of the tax, to 32 during the third year.

The Tacoma council knew all of this but still adopted the tax. It’s not about public safety or even about reducing so-called “gun violence.” This is about reducing gun ownership, and they know it.

Stop This Foolishness

Is there a remedy to this nonsense? A way to prevent it altogether? Yes, but it’s going to require gun owners, wherever you are, to “get in the game,” — the political game.

Pericles, the Greek philosopher, is reputed to have put it best in 430 BC: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” Let this sink in for a moment.

Gun owners in Tacoma are already eyeballing the next municipal election. Likewise, Virginia gun owners will have to find good candidates and support their election next time around.

In many, if not most states, judges and state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals justices and judges also run for election. Gun owners must recruit good pro-rights candidates for those positions and get them elected, which translates to “throwing the bums out.”

If you hope to protect and restore the Second Amendment to its rightful status — a constitutional protection with teeth — you can no longer expect someone else, some organization, to carry your water.

Don’t be like gun owners who were part of the 60 percent of Virginia voters who sat out the election last November. Take some advice from Woody Allen: “80 percent of life is showing up.”

It’s now show time.

Subscribe To GUNS Magazine

Purchase A PDF Download Of The GUNS Magazine September 2020 Issue Now!