Gun rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association, are suing the city of Seattle over its new tax on guns and ammo.
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In 2009, Seattle City Council passed regulations that prohibited the carrying of firearms in city parks, an ordinance that was struck down in 2012 by the state’s highest court, the NRA said. Seattle’s tax, which might take impact in January, would add $25 to the worth of every firearm bought within the metropolis, plus 2 or 5 cents per spherical of ammunition, relying on the sort. The revenue allegedly would be used for “gun safety research and gun violence prevention programs” – which certainly sounds like it would be funneled to anti-gun groups.
“The city believes it is well within its legal authority to tax the sales of firearms and ammunition, and will vigorously defend the ordinance in court”, Kimberly Mills, a spokeswoman for Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, said in a phone interview. Spokesman Dave Workman says the problem with Seattle’s tax on ammunition and guns is it violates Washington’s preemption law.
If they can’t make guns just disappear, they can do their best to prevent people from exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The lawsuit, aimed only at the tax, calls that ordinance “a piece of propaganda, because… the state of Washington has the exclusive right to regulate the sale of firearms in Washington”.
The only other municipality in the country with an individual tax on gun sales is Chicago, the NRA said. “It isn’t in any approach an try to manage the sale, use or possession of firearms”.
According to Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess, who proposed the tax, the direct medical costs of treating 253 gunshot victims at Harborview Medical Center in 2014 totaled more than $17 million. Metropolis officers estimate that the brand new tax would usher in $300,000 to $500,000 a yr, however gun store house owners advised council members these numbers have been inflated.
This isn’t the first time Seattle has imposed laws related to guns in recent years.
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“We’ve been down this path before with Seattle when we sued them and won, knocking out their attempt to ban guns in city park facilities”, said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “The city does not seem to understand that no matter how they wrap this package, it’s still a gun control law and it violates Washington’s long-standing preemption statute”.
