On August 10, the Seattle City Council will vote on two proposed anti-Second Amendment ordinances, one of which will place a tax on individual bullets and a tax on each firearm purchased by law-abiding citizens within city limits.
Breitbart News previously reported that City Council President Tim Burgess is pushing the new taxes. And according The Seattle Times, Burgess is trying justify the taxes by citing the cost of treating gunshot victims in Seattle in 2014 and suggesting “it’s time for the gun industry to help defray those costs and this is a very reasonable way to do it.”
Burgess overlooks the fact that the gun industry will not be paying the taxes—rather, law-abiding citizens, who buy guns and ammo at Walmart, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, various gun stores, and other retail outlets, will pay them as prices rise to cover the $25 per gun and 5 cents per bullet in new cost.
He also fails to see that such taxes, pushed punitively, would never reach the people who drove up the number of gunshot wounds in the first place. That is because gang members, drug dealers, and other criminals do not frequently shop for guns and ammunition at retail outlets. Rather, they buy them on the streets.
On top of these things, Washington has a preemption law which prevents municipalities from passing ordinances or regulations that impact “registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation… or any other element” of firearm ownership or commerce.” For this reason, Burgess admits the city of Seattle will likely be sued if his taxes become law.
Yet the taxes will receive a vote August 10.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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