Posted on 03/29/2002 2:03:40 PM PST by gc4nra
Political Editor Randy Shandobil for KTVU Channel 2 News
Target practice could soon get a lot more expensive. Next week a Bay Area state senator will formally propose a five-cent-a-bullet sales tax. Not five percent, but a nickel for each and every round.
Shoot a small caliber weapon, such as a .22? That more than doubles the price of your ammo.
Sen. Don Perata/(D) Oakland : "I will be attacked by those who hate gun control. I know that. As soon as this airs, I am going to start getting nasty phone calls and email."
Senator Don Perata is a gun control crusader. But he says his tax idea is not meant to deter gun use, but rather to raise money to save California's hospital trauma centers, some of which are going under.
"Bullets cause injuries that are expensive to treat and generally speaking, the public is footing the bill."
Perata wants the legislature to put the tax idea on the November ballot.
Peter Buxtun/NRA Member: "This idea is stupidity."
National Rifle Association member Peter Buxtun says previous gun control measures by Senator Perata put many gun dealers out of business, and he says a nickel a bullet tax would just lead to ammo smuggling. Buxtun: "People would go to Oregon, they would go to Nevada and they would load up the trunks of their car or their whole van and bring tons of ammunition in."
At the Jackson Arms Shooting Range in South San Francisco today, most customers did not want to talk on camera... but everyone said the tax would be unfair. They don't shoot people, they shoot targets.
Sen. Perata: "I am sorry. You cannot screen them out. The same way that someone with a perfect driving record is going to be upset that they pay an added cost for emergency care."
Democrats control both the state senate and the state assembly, so Senator Perata is confident a majority of lawmakers will support the tax. But that doesn't mean it will qualify for the November ballot.
For a ballot measure to qualify, two thirds of the legislature has to say yes, not a simple majority.
Buxtun: "We'll absolutely fight this as hard as we can."
If it does qualify, it could become a hot button issue in the Governor's race. Aides to Republican Bill Simon, who earns an A rating from the NRA, say he would be against it. Governor Davis is taking no position yet. He has signed many gun control bills, but says he's against tax hikes.
-- Political Editor Randy Shandobil, KTVU Channel 2 News
© 2002 KTVU-TV
Perata is the same guy that brought us SB23(the so called "Assault Weapons" ban)
OBTW, he has his CCW, can we say Limousine Liberal boys anfd girls! Click here for the story
I'll reserve my comments.
(Here's one more name for the hall of shame.)
Add .05 X 500 and it becomes $34.95.
Maybe 5000 22s is a lifetime supply. Then add the .45s. They might collect $250 tax over 50 years on the 22s, and $20 per year from the .45s, and that is from just one person. Multiply that by all the others who would pay such a tax. Obviously this will swell state coffers to an amazing degree. We're talking tens of dollars.
No, she's up the road in Berkeley!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, as long as I can say it: every gun owner should buy a box of ammo for each gun he owns, every single month of the year.
When the gun-grabbers come, they won't go for the guns, they'll go for the ammo. This jerk is just the harbinger.
Seriously, lunatics like this one are a standing threat to the Bill of Rights, and every freedom we enjoy. They would tax into oblivion everything they disagree with.
If crime is not magically stopped after the nickel tax, (It won't be, and Perata knows it as well as we do), then it will be even easier to raise the existing tax to fifty cents or five dollars a bullet.
And of course, possession of an "untaxed bullet" would be subject to mandatory minimum prison terms.
Stay Safe !
I will never give Mr. Feuer a thumbprint, although I do reserve the right to use another finger.
Ammunition (still) is legal to purchase by phone, fax, internet, e-mail, snail mail, smoke signal, and carrier pigeon. Brought to your door by your friendly UPS man.
--Boris
Every tax is a bad thing. I'll never pay a tax on bullets until people take heed of Joslyn Elders' recommendation to make safer bullets.
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