Nickel-a-bullet tax measure passes Senate committee

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | 06-06-2002 | Don Thompson

[boris]

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Nickel-a-bullet tax measure passes Senate committee

By Don Thompson
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- A first-in-the-nation proposal to tax each bullet sold in California cleared a state Senate committee Wednesday. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the measure, but it now faces uphill fights in the Revenue and Taxation and Constitutional Amendments committees.

The bill by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, would put a 5-cent tax on each bullet, with the money going to hospital emergency rooms.

If it reaches a Senate vote, Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, predicted Republicans will uniformly vote against the measure.

Perata predicted he will get the single GOP vote he needs to send the measure to the Assembly.

Because it is a proposed constitutional amendment, it must clear the Assembly and Senate with two-thirds majorities, one more than the number of Democratic senators and four more than the number of Democratic Assembly members.

The bill is controversial because it not only levies a tax on bullets, but does so in an election year. If it is approved by both chambers, voters would decide the matter in November.

Gun groups say Perata would be better off punishing criminals who send victims to emergency rooms, rather than law-abiding citizens who buy bullets legally.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms suggested legislation requiring anyone convicted of shooting someone to pay their victim's medical costs before they are freed from prison. The California Rifle and Pistol Association proposed a 25 cents per bullet tax credit for gun owners "for the tremendous public benefit their firearms provide."

Perata said there are no statistics on how many bullets are sold each year in California, but he estimated that $21 million could be raised annually, based on an assumption that one gun averages 50 bullets a year. He acknowledged that's a fraction of the cost of treating gunshot victims.

[July 4th]

Looks like CA will have to post guards at the borders if this passes, because Reno will become the ammo capital of the world.

[NorseWood]

I'm going to have to start spending my lunch money on ammo.

[Puppage]

This, from a CA. democRAT that has a CCW because (he told the permit authorities) of his anti gun stance, he needs to protect himself from "rightwing nuts" who oppose his view. Another case of "good enough for me, but NOT for thee"??? What's wrong with this picture?

[Lazamataz]

Nickel-a-bullet tax measure passes Senate committee

When you get close to the Kalifornistan border, note the signs that read:

YOU ARE LEAVING THE UNITED STATES
Please have your passport ready

[boris]

"Looks like CA will have to post guards at the borders if this passes, because Reno will become the ammo capital of the world."

Well, until the U.S. congress passes a pending law, I can still buy ammo by mail...

--Boris

[Lazamataz]

I would like to tax every breath Daniel Perata takes, since taxation tends to cause people to do less of a given thing.

[Lazamataz]

Who will rid me of this troublesome priest? ;^)

[Joe Brower]

BLOAT

[ArrogantBustard]

When enough people have had it up to the gills, things will get ugly. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose".

AB

[Mr. Lucky]

Why not $5.00 per bullet? The Nevada economy could use the boost.

[Britton J Wingfield]

I pay $8.99 for a box of 500 rounds of 22 caliber ammo. I would have to pay $25 in bullet tax, plus sales tax. Yay California.

[no-s]

Interviewed at a job in Reno yesterday. Just thinking ahead. The missus an me are thinking it might be better to be non-californians for a few years.

BTW, there are already border control checkpoints in California, but the only purpose at present is to harass people transporting fruit trees, livestock, or other agricultural contraband....

[TheDon]

Nice.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Yuma, too. I sense a great smuggling opportunity coming up.

[RightWhale]

he estimated that $21 million could be raised annually, based on an assumption that one gun averages 50 bullets a year

Those simple, smooth economic supply and demand curves are not etched in stone. They can change shape. For example, the assumed 50 rounds per firearm can become zero and the curve go flat-line.

[Ohioan]

Well 5 cents is not too much to pay for the bullet that takes out a burglar or rapist. But that is not the issue. This is a deliberate attempt to frustrate citizens acquiring the skills to make their shots count in a crisis, by putting a prohibitive tax on target shooting.

If I was in California, I would go after these freedom haters with a vengeance. There is no justification for this. Its only practical function is just what I have suggested. It will not deter any gun abuse, it will only deter citizen proficiency.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Redbob]

More likely, the Post Office will become the local ammo store!

And the Kalifornia gummint will get no tax revenue from ammo sales whatsoever.

[LetsRok]

Time to learn to re-load my own.