Since the historical 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, anti-gun politicians in the Empire State have instituted a number of schemes to continue infringing on the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
The latest such effort by anti-gun Democrat lawmakers is a proposed tax on guns and ammo in an attempt to make it too expensive for the average New Yorker to keep and bear arms.
“If they cannot outright confiscate your firearms, they will make sure you cannot afford to buy or shoot them,” NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) wrote in a recent legislative update. “Former Chief Justice John Marshall once famously proclaimed that ‘the power to tax is the power to destroy.’ Albany Democrats understand this axiom all too well, and this appears to be the motivation behind their latest push.”
The measure, S. 5813-A would impose an 11% excise tax on the sale of all firearms and ammunition in the state. Of course, violent criminals, who mostly get their guns through illegal means, would not be affected by the proposal—only law-abiding gun owners.
To add insult to injury, the bill would take the newly stolen “tax dollars” and launder them into a Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Program, also created by the legislation.
The measure states: “All taxes, interest, and penalties collected or received by the commissioner under this article shall be deposited and disposed of pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred seventy-one-a of this chapter, provided that an amount equal to one hundred percent collected under this article less any amount determined by the commissioner to be reserved by the comptroller for refunds or reimbursements shall be paid by the comptroller to the credit of the gun violence prevention and school safety fund established by section ninety-nine-uu of the state finance law.”
“We can only imagine what that is going to fund,” NRA-ILA wrote. “The bill also has provisions for databases and gun dealer inspections. This is truly a very bad bill and needs to be stopped!”
As NRA-ILA pointed out, the bill is currently in the Senate Budget and Revenue Committee, but it likely won’t be there long. Consequently, New York gun owners need to contact their state senator immediately and express their opposition to the measure.
Fortunately, NRA-ILA provides an avenue for contacting lawmakers about the bill. Click here to sign a letter to lawmakers concerning the measure.
“As a fellow New Yorker, I urge you to oppose S. 5813-A in your committee,” the letter states. “S. 5813-A imposes an 11 percent excise tax on the sale of all firearms and ammunition. This does nothing to address crime in the state and only penalizes lawful gun owners.”