Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Anti-gun Politicians Seek to Tax Your Second Amendment Rights Into Oblivion

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Anti-gun Politicians Seek to Tax Your Second Amendment Rights Into Oblivion

In 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court famously wrote:  “the power to tax involves the power to destroy ….”

This truism has not been lost on firearm prohibitionists, who when unable to ban guns outright have often tried to tax them out of reach of the average citizen. 

Earlier this year, Democrat Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey actually did try to exploit panic over the COVID-19 outbreak to ban firearm sales. Failing at that, however, he is now proposing exponential tax increases on constitutionally protected arms. This should surprise no one, being that Joe Biden – the Democrat candidate for the White House – is proposing similar measures.

Ironically, both Murphy and Biden insist that they are champions of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the oppressed. Needless to say, however, these are the very groups whose Second Amendment rights will suffer the most if these taxation schemes are enacted.

New Jersey residents seeking to buy firearms are already subject to a slew of onerous prior restraints, including fees for permits, along with the associated costs of fingerprinting and lengthy waiting periods for “processing.”

An article in Guns.com now reports that Murphy’s budget plan would raise the price of a pistol purchase permit by a factor of 24, while the firearms identification card needed for the purchase of a long gun would increase by a factor of nearly 20.

Put another way, buying a gun in New Jersey would become some 2,000 times more expensive under the plan!

But that’s not all. The governor is also seeking to raise firearm dealer licensing and manufacturing fees (on top of those already required by the federal government) by a factor of 10. The governor’s budget plan itself additionally mentions “implementing excise taxes on firearms and ammunition” in unspecified amounts.

Many families struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and seeking a firearm as margin of protection against increasing social unrest would simply be out of luck.

And that’s exactly the way Murphy wants it. “[A] safer society, for my taste, has fewer guns and not more guns,” Murphy infamously said in March. When confronted by the manifest hypocrisy of this sentiment when he himself was appearing with armed bodyguards at his side, Murphy flippantly replied: “It is what it is.”

But let’s be clear “what it is” with this proposal: a determined attempt to deprive the most vulnerable residents of New Jersey of their Second Amendment rights, just when record numbers of Americans across the political and cultural spectrums are concluding they need them the most.

In this, Murphy is right in step with his party’s nominee for the White House.

Joe Biden – ludicrously marketed to Middle America as a “moderate” – plans to ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of a host of popular semiautomatic firearms, including the most popular one of all, the iconic AR-15. For those who already own such guns, Biden would extend an offer that could not be refused, except on pain of federal imprisonment: surrender them to the government for whatever compensation might be offered or pay $200 to register them in a national database. This $200 per unit tax would also apply to each firearm magazine that could hold more than 10 rounds.

So, for example, the owner of a single AR-15 with 5 standard capacity magazines who wanted to keep his or her property would be hit with a $1,200 tax bill. And this doesn’t even take into account any other registration and fingerprinting costs.

A firearm enthusiast with even a moderate collection of semiautomatic long guns and magazines could easily owe tens of thousands of dollars.

Even a left-leaning editorialist in the Washington Post had to admit the “uncomfortable” truth when evaluating this plan:

Regardless of one’s opinion on guns and gun control, it is obvious that this proposal will disproportionately impact poor and working-class communities. Those within those communities who already own firearms would be robbed of their ability to protect themselves and their loved ones, while their wealthier counterparts would skate by on their ready piles of cash. * * * In effect, Biden’s plan sets in motion a “war on guns,” the same way his predecessors declared wars on “poverty,” “crime” and “terror” — wars in which it was inevitably black and brown people who were the real targets.

On this point, at least, we can agree.

Despite what anti-gun politicians like Murphy and Biden might think, the Second Amendment is the birthright of ALL Americans, not just those who have the riches to pay whatever taxes anti-gun politicians try to levy on its exercise.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Gun Tax Phil Murphy Joe Biden
TRENDING NOW
NRA Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, February 7, 2025

NRA Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights

Today, the White House announced a new Executive Order to protect and expand the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. This is the first action taken by President Donald J. Trump to carry through ...

Going, Going… Gone? Privacy and Gun Owner Data Security in California

News  

Monday, February 10, 2025

Going, Going… Gone? Privacy and Gun Owner Data Security in California

Where does privacy go to die? For gun owners and concealed carry applicants and permit holders in the Golden State, the answer must surely be California.

The Hearing Protection Act Introduced in the 119th Congress

News  

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

The Hearing Protection Act Introduced in the 119th Congress

U.S. Representative Ben Cline (R-VA-06) and U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) recently reintroduced the Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 404/S. 364) in the 119th Congress. This commonsense legislation will give gun owners and hunters the opportunity to ...

Colorado: Senate to Attempt Semi-Auto Ban Vote Again Tomorrow

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Colorado: Senate to Attempt Semi-Auto Ban Vote Again Tomorrow

It seems the anti-gun radicals of the General Assembly are hoping that "third time's the charm" for the vote on their semi-automatic ban.

CMP Resumes 1911 Pistol Sales, Offers Streamline Process and Incentives

News  

Monday, February 3, 2025

CMP Resumes 1911 Pistol Sales, Offers Streamline Process and Incentives

One day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he held a Make America Great Again rally in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to more than 20,000 energized supporters ...

NFA Prosecution Shows ATF Still Determined to Imprison Americans for Braced Pistols

News  

Monday, February 10, 2025

NFA Prosecution Shows ATF Still Determined to Imprison Americans for Braced Pistols

Documents filed in an ongoing prosecution for illegal possession of a short-barreled rifle are raising new concerns about ATF’s enforcement policy concerning pistols with attached stabilizing braces. 

Colorado: Senate Delays Vote on Semi-Auto Ban A Second Time

Friday, February 7, 2025

Colorado: Senate Delays Vote on Semi-Auto Ban A Second Time

For the second week in a row, the State Senate has postponed the floor vote for Senate Bill 25-003, the near all-encompassing semi-automatic ban

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s Ban on the Possession and Carry of Handguns and Semiautomatic Firearms by Adults Under 21

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, February 14, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s Ban on the Possession and Carry of Handguns and Semiautomatic Firearms by Adults Under 21

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Gun Owners’ Action League, Commonwealth Second Amendment, Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and an individual, Mack Escher, filed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’s ...

Virginia: Gun Control Bills Pass General Assembly, Head to Youngkin's Desk

Friday, February 14, 2025

Virginia: Gun Control Bills Pass General Assembly, Head to Youngkin's Desk

It has been a busy week in Richmond, and not for the right reasons. The House has passed a slew of anti-gun legislation, and these bills will now be transmitted to Governor Youngkin's office

Legislation Introduced to Block Credit Card Gun Registry

News  

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Legislation Introduced to Block Credit Card Gun Registry

U.S. Representatives Riley Moore (R-WV-02), Richard Hudson (R-NC-09), and Andy Barr (R-KY-06) have introduced H.R. 1181, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act. This crucial legislation would prohibit credit card companies from tracking constitutionally protected purchases ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.