Seattle moves forward with “gun violence tax” on all weapons, ammo

[SO LAW ABIDING CITIZENS WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO PROTECT THEMSELVES BUT THE CRIMINAL'S  WILL STILL HAVE THE WEAPONS.]


This week the Seattle City Council moved one step closer to imposing a sweeping sales tax on both weapons and ammunition which appears to fly in the face of a thirty year old state law banning such restrictions. A committee vote took place on Wednesday and the proposal will move to a full vote tomorrow. And this is just a bad deal all the way around.

The committee voted unanimously this morning to send the proposal to the full city council for consideration next Monday, according to the Seattle P-I.com. Monday’s vote could set the stage for a legal confrontation, and there were hints that existing gun shops could move out of the city, and that gun owners living in Seattle will simply shop outside the city, thus thwarting any dreams that this tax will generate $300,000 to $500,000 annually for the city’s gun control efforts.

Waiting in the legal tall grass are the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. They’ve already advised against the tax proposal, primarily on the grounds that it will violate the state’s 30-year-old model preemption law.

Even if this move were to pass muster in terms of the state’s preemption law, it is bound to accomplish very little beyond the thinly veiled intent of punishing lawful gun owners and gun shops. A tax such as this is certain to do almost nothing to total volume of sales except for those truly living on the edge and simply shifts business from one location to another. NRA ILAsummarizes the concept.

The burden of regressive taxes like the Seattle proposal falls squarely on those that are least able to afford them. Persons of means will simply drive outside the city to purchase firearms and ammunition, while those without such options will be forced to go forego their rights or pay the tax. This is especially egregious considering how those at the lower end of the economic scale also tend to reside in areas where violent crime is the highest. One wonders whether this type of social engineering on the downtrodden is an intended feature of the legislation rather than an unfortunate consequence.

Supporters are claiming that this tax could bring in a half million dollars in revenue, but under the best of circumstances that sounds vastly inflated. It also doesn’t take into account how much it could affect the local market. As one local gun dealer pointed out, it’s a competitive sales space and they already sell pretty much on the margins. If he has to jack up the price of a ten or fifteen dollar box of ammunition by five dollars, shooters will simply go outside the city limits and buy their rounds where the tax is not applied. The same goes for new gun purchases. If sales plummet, the tax revenue goes down by default and if the shops close, the revenue disappears entirely.

Of course, that’s been the idea all along. This isn’t a tax intended to raise revenue for vital services. It’s a political statement. That’s why the supporters of the proposal even call it the gun violence tax. They’re not expecting to raise cash or reduce violence. They’re simply looking to show their base constituents how “serious” they are about restricting gun rights. The irony behind all of this is that the city will doubtless face a series of expensive lawsuits if the tax is put in place and they’ll probably lose. In the end they will wind up getting no revenue and the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for the court costs and associated expenses.

But hey… this is Seattle. What did you really expect?

Via: Hot Air

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The Sign Is Clear: ‘No Weapons, No Concealed Firearms’ — Why Didn’t These Three Thugs Obey Gun-Free Zone?

Despite a sign posted outside designating the business a so-called “gun-free zone,” three thugs reportedly assaulted restaurant employees during a robbery attempt in Durham, North Carolina, earlier this week.

At around 9 p.m. on Sunday, three men wearing hoodies and armed with handguns invaded a newly-opened barbecue restaurant in Durham through the back door, according to police. The thugs reportedly forced employees to the ground, assaulting two of them. Thankfully, they were not seriously injured.

While the robbery occurred in the kitchen, patrons in the restaurant were able to safely escape through the front door.

Restaurant owner Greg Hatem told WTVD-TV that he’s offering $2,000 for the “arrest and conviction of these guys.”

“We want to make sure our guests and our staff are taken care of,” he said.

Pro-gun advocates have criticized the restaurant’s “gun-free zone” policy and argue allowing citizens to protect themselves in the establishment is a much more effective way to ensure their safety. Second Amendment supporters have repeatedly argued that “gun-free zones” only entice criminals because they know they will likely face minimal opposition.

A recent study out of Purdue University found that all but two mass shootings since the 1950s have occurred in locations where victims were restricted from carrying weapons for self-defense

Via: The Blaze

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REPORT: ATF AGENTS 'LOST TRACK OF DOZENS OF GOVERNMENT GUNS' BY MISPLACING THEM

A disturbing report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel alleges that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has lost "dozens" of weapons as agents leave them in bathrooms, on top of cars, movie theaters, and other public areas.

An extensive dive into the records of the ATF of the past five years uncovered dozens of incidents of egregious irresponsibility with weapons, from revolvers to machine guns, by ATF agents across the country. The Journal Sentinel highlights specific cases in which ATF agents leave their guns in bathroom stalls (in those cases, a good Samaritan has returned them) or cases in which agents leave their guns on top of their cars and drive away. In one of those cases highlighted, the gun was never found. 

In another case, the guns were found by children, and the agent did not fess up to losing it until the local news reported young children playing with a loaded gun by a storm drain. The agent told the press that he expected the gun would "turn up eventually" upon losing it.

A number of other agents lost their guns in "Operation Fearless," a plan to buy overpriced guns off of criminals to track their routes in the black market--not dissimilar to the border operation Fast and Furious. One agent had his guns stolen out of his truck while conducting a task for the operation. The thefts involved "at least two assault rifles" and three firearms.

The newspaper reports that it found 76 incidents in the past five years of lost, stolen, or missing weapons-- "nearly double the rate of the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration." Perhaps most disturbing of all, the reports do not say whether the agents involved in the accidents were disciplined for the lack of responsibility in caring for their guns. The ATF's record as disclosed here by the newspaper appears significantly more egregious than many government law enforcement agencies, even the DEA, which was responsible for the Fast and Furious operation that took the life of Officer Brian Terry and resulted in the distribution of illegal guns all over the American Southwest.

The Journal Sentinel published the reports described above, linking to them anecdote by anecdote. They were available to the newspaper, despite being incidents nationwide and not just in Wisconsin, through a Freedom of Information Act request, though the names of the agents were not. You can read them all at the newspaper's website here.

Via: Breitbart

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