California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D) is pushing legislation to create an 11 percent excise tax on firearm and ammunition sales in the state.
Gabriel’s bill is being touted as a means to bring in nearly $160 million in annual revenue for the California state government, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The tax would apply to gun and ammo makers as well as gun dealers and ammo vendors.
Gabriel suggested the tax might reduce gun violence but did not say whether that reduction would come by making firearms cost prohibitive.
Former Assemblyman Marc Levine (D) believes Gabriel’s excise tax has a pathway forward because California is “facing a $31.5 billion budget gap.” He also noted that recent redistricting may provide the cushion otherwise hesitant office holders need to support the bill.
On August 6, Breitbart News reported that 25 U.S. House Democrats put forward a 1000 percent excise tax on AR-15s and other firearms they refer to as “assault weapons.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.