Seattle’s New Gun-Violence Tax Faces Pro-Gun Opposition

Photograph courtesy of Sean/Flickr

Seattle’s new gun-violence tax is under fire. On Monday, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a lawsuit against the city’s recently passed tax on firearms and ammunition.

As Scout reports, in early August the Seattle city council unanimously approved a $25 sales tax on each firearm and a five-cent tax on each round of ammunition sold in the city. According to Reuters, the lawsuit challenging the tax argues that the ordinance interferes with lawful firearms commerce and violates a state statute forbidding cities from regulating the sale of firearms.

“Once again, anti-gun activists in Seattle have chosen to violate the Washington State Constitution and trample upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” says Chris Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “They tried to enact similar regulations back in 2009 and lost. It’s a shame to see such a waste of public resources on issues the courts have already ruled to be unconstitutional.”

The money collected through the gun-violence tax goes toward area violence-prevention programs. The NSSF says that the tax is misguided because criminals do not purchase guns through legal means and that it thus punishes law-abiding citizens. “The Seattle ordinance is nothing but a poll tax on the Second Amendment and an effort to drive Seattle’s firearms retailers out of business,” says Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of NSSF.