We all know how California feels about guns. They've got the most extensive gun control regulations in the nation and it seems they're always looking for more.
And if they can make it harder for poorer Californians to get a firearm, so much the better, right?
At least, that's how it looks from the outside, and that observation isn't helped by a proposed bill.
California lawmakers approved legislation on Thursday to impose a new tax on firearms and ammunition sales to help finance gun-violence prevention and education programs, a victory for Democrats after years of failing to pass similar measures.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 28, would impose an 11% tax on dealers and manufacturers for sales of guns and ammunition, and is one of a small number of major gun control measures still moving through the Legislature this year. It's the first time that Democrats have successfully sent a firearms tax proposal to the governor.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom has rejected or expressed resistance to imposing new taxes, he also has signed into law dozens of gun control measures. And after several mass shootings in schools across the country and two high-profile massacres in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park this year sparked fresh outrage from advocates, lawmakers are under pressure to strengthen gun control in California, even as new laws face legal scrutiny and are often rejected by the courts for being unconstitutional.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat and author of the bill, estimates that it could generate roughly $160 million annually for violence prevention and school safety programs and victim-support services.
And it'll generate that money by making it harder for some of the most vulnerable people in the state to obtain the means to defend themselves.
I'm also more than a little annoyed that lawmakers always seem to think that lawful gun buyers should be saddled with paying the expenses created by people who, as a general thing, aren't lawful gun buyers.
Few get that worked up over gas taxes because they know they put wear and tear on the roads and those taxes take care of that. Hunters have no qualms about their licensing fees going to pay for animal conservation efforts.
It's one thing when you know you're paying a tax that is tied to the thing you're doing.
Yet this tax is still just a case of the innocent being forced to cover the acts of the guilty. And again, most of them aren't going to buy their guns lawfully, so they won't be paying this tax in the least.
And let's think about what it will do to gun prices.
Let's say a gun is selling for $500. On top of all other taxes, this will add another $55 to the price. That's on top of sales tax and everything else. Coupled with the 7.25 percent sales tax, that takes that $500 firearm and raises the price to $591.25.
It's not difficult to see how that might keep some from being able to exercise their Second Amendment rights with a quality firearm under such a scheme.
While the bill has been discussed over the last few months, the state legislature doesn't start its session until late next week. That's when we'll get a look at how much support this bill actually has.
Find the original article in its entirety on Bearing Arms.
When you steal a gun, make sure to send 11% of its market value to Gavin
Watch CA Gun Industry go Blackmarket, Underground
This is what happens when you have Communist Dictator for a Governor. Gavin Newscum belongs in some South American banana republic, where he can really aspire to be the little tin god dictator that he wants to be. This scumbag doesn’t give a damn about the citizens of California. All he cares about is stealing as much money as he can so he can live as an “elite” who is above it all. He bought the Governorship of California. He was never really elected, because in a Democratic super-majority State, how could he not get elected. California is a joke, and it has become like a giant cancer-cell that is infecting the entire country with it’s Communist doctrine. Newscum turned California into a Sanctuary Shithole State, with more illegals flooding into the State everyday. Then of course, he wants to disarm all of California’s citizens, so that people can’t even defend themselves. Like all Democrats and Left Wing nutjobs, he has absolutely no respect for the Second Amendment or the Constitution. We need to rid ourselves of these Democrats and Left Wing fanatics, and take our country, back. In the meantime, I’m glad that I moved to Montana, where freedom still exists.
When CA has everybody disarmed they will be easy for an overthrow or take over
Looking at it means they’re going to do it.
One thing you have to give California’s lawmakers….they are persistent. Stupid, ignorant idiots….but pursistent
They never seem to tire of the sado-masochistic process of dreaming up yet another ridiculous and totally unconstitutional assault on the 2nd Amendment….only have one of the courts throw it back in their faces.
It would be different, I think, if any of their asinine new laws weren’t purely punitive towards the legal citizens who are simply exercising the God given right to self defense in a totally lawless and out of control disaster of a state like CA.
Second Amendment haters do not…and have never…fully utilized the laws already in existence to stop crime and gun violence…all of which is perpetrated by an entire element other than the group their laws are intended to punish.
Only the most feeble minded among us would even consider that the criminal element will be deterred from getting and using illegal firearms to commit crimes because legislators have curtailed the rights of their intended victims to defend themselves.
Yet we never see any inclination on the part of the radical leftists who run California, to critically examine California’s soft on crime policies, the decisions not to prosecute multitudes of crimes and the revolving door policies that puts violent criminals back on the street in record time. The CA legal and justice system is a joke and a farce….and nobly is laughing louder than the criminals……
Neither is CA willing to examine any of the mental health issues associated with violence issue in their state….much less take any definitive steps to address any of the dozens of issues. in that particular arena.
CA’s government, like that of most idiotic blue states, is a one trick pony….go after the second amendment and nothing else. Even though the 2nd amendment is NOT the cause of the problem. They are not even smart enough to realize that it is a fight that they can never win…..because we will always find ways….legal or illegal…to have the weapons we need to protect ourselves from danger….be that danger from criminals or from politicians who want to take our freedom.