Cook County Illinois recently debated the idea of a 1¢ tax per bullet on ammunition. The proposal failed, but it’s going to be replaced with a $25 “transfer” fee on all firearms sold within the county.
It’s offensive and futile, and it’s unlikely to serve its intended purpose. The Illinois State Rifle Association is claiming that the funds will actually be funneled to anti-gun groups, though no attribution is given to the claim.
It’s a sneaky brand of gun control, and the constitutionality of the measure is questionable at best, and the law might find Chicago in court yet again on 2nd Amendment grounds. In the McDonald case, the Supreme Court referred to the right to keep and bear arms as “fundamental,” and as such, it should be protected under the same scrutiny as freedom of the press.
In the end, the only people affected by this tax will be gun stores in Cook County, as buyers will likely choose to purchase guns elsewhere in order to avoid the tax.
(Pictured above is a 1903 Springfield Krag-Jørgensen in .30 Gov’t. Yes, I’m having an inordinate amount of fun with Instagram.)
4 thoughts on “The Softer Name of Revenue”
Instagram? Really? I will overlook that in lieu of cool pics of the Krag.
Oh, so everyone’s a critic. In response, here’s a pair of the shoes I wear to impress the bookish lady who works at Starbucks:
Sooner or later, she’ll come around and get rid of that restraining order.
I’ll let her know you like her…. :)
Methinks the courts are pre-disposed to rubber stamp any measure, as long as it is labelled a “tax”….
I can’t believe it….but I think those are th same shoes my girlfriend had to wear during sorority recruitment….
Not quite another pic of the Krag….