Gun Pulse: Maryland considers ‘sin tax’ for firearm purchases

The States

Sportsmen’s Alliance criticized the “sin tax” provisions, which are meant to raise costs on firearm dealers and gun owners such that less Maryland citizens have access to firearms.

Other states controlled by Democrats have similarly imposed excise taxes on firearms, a policy that faces backlash from Second Amendment advocates for limiting access to self-defense. File Image.

Editor’s Note: Gun Pulse, formerly an email newsletter from The Sentinel meant to cover the battle over the Second Amendment in our nation, is now exclusively available on our website.

Maryland Democrats considered legislation last week that would impose a substantial “sin tax” on the purchase of firearms, especially focusing on those who sell firearms to gun owners.

Members of the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee heard two such bills on Thursday. The first bill would create an 11% excise tax on firearms dealers derived from selling firearms, while the funds would bankroll purported gun violence prevention programs. The second bill would introduce a 12% excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and accessories.

Sportsmen’s Alliance criticized the “sin tax” provisions, which are meant to raise costs on firearm dealers and gun owners such that less Maryland citizens have access to firearms.

“It seems that gun control advocates believe lawfully using a firearm and ammunition is engaging in morally and socially harmful behavior,” the nonprofit organization contended in an analysis of the legislation. “They are also not shy about blaming sportsmen for the state’s violent crime issues by setting up funding programs to pay for the criminal activities of others.”

Sportsmen’s Alliance warned that “dealers will have no choice but to add the 11% and 12% tax onto our purchase of firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition,” thereby requiring “law-abiding sportsmen to foot the bill for the violent acts of criminals” in the state of Maryland.

Other states controlled by Democrats have similarly imposed excise taxes on firearms, a policy that faces backlash from Second Amendment advocates for limiting access to self-defense.

California has an 11% excise tax on firearms, precursors, and ammunition, while the funds from the tax are used for “violence prevention, education, research, response, and investigation.”

The businesses which sell firearms already pay the federal government an excise tax between 10% and 11% to fund wildlife conservation efforts. California lawmakers referenced that federal tax as justification for their new law, contending that the tax helps grant programs to “remediate the effects that firearms and ammunition have on wildlife populations through game hunting.”