Rust never sleeps, and apparently neither do lawmakers who dedicate their professional lives to stripping gun rights away from law-abiding citizens. With the pesky Second Amendment standing in the way of outright banning all firearms, they are forced to get creative.
Over two dozen gun rights opponents in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday submitted legislation to impose a 1,000% excise tax on so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines.
This childish and petty move would jack up the cost of a $1,000 firearm to $10,000 — far out of reach of the average sportsman. And that’s the goal.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and 24 of his colleagues put the proposal on the table for the second time. He and 37 allies did the same last year when his party still had control of the House, but it did not gain traction. Any changes between the two measures were not readily available.
The 2022 version slapped the tax on any magazine capable of holding over 10 rounds of ammunition.
“Congress must take action to stem the flood of weapons of war into American communities, which have taken a terrible toll in Uvalde, Buffalo, Tulsa and too many other places,” the representative declared. “Again and again assault weapons designed for use on the battlefield have been used in mass shootings at schools, grocery stores, hospitals, churches, synagogues, malls, theaters, bars and so on.”
He attempted to justify his proposal constitutionally by claiming the measure did not specifically “ban” any type of weapons.” Beyer reasoned that simply introducing a tax is “a power clearly delegated to Congress under Article I of the Constitution.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) took strong exception to the proposal, countering that Beyer and his allies are using an invented designation to go after legal firearm ownership. The term “assault weapon,” according to the gun rights group, was concocted to “deliberately confuse the public and advance the political cause of gun control.”
The NRA said the term should only apply to fully automatic weapons used by the U.S. military but off limits to most of the public.
Over 100 of Beyer’s cohorts signed a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Thursday. They admonished the Speaker for leadership in the chamber not advancing legislation in 2023 to restrict U.S. gun ownership.
“As members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, we call on you to schedule votes on gun violence prevention legislation as soon as possible this year.”
They then trotted out the thoroughly debunked claim that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. As advocacy group Gun Owners of America correctly noted, that statistic fraudulently added 18- and 19-year-old adults to the study to alter the results.
The leading cause of death among U.S. children is auto accidents. But never let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
The excise tax proposal is just another in a long line of shameful government actions over many decades. Disingenuous political leaders have a history of using taxes and other leveraged powers to force citizens to do or not do a certain action.
There is no honor in attempting to tax something out of existence that is constitutionally protected. It is childish and beneath what should be the dignity of our elected leaders.
Beyer’s measure should and likely will be allowed to languish and then die a natural death. Second Amendment rights enjoyed by all law-abiding Americans are not for sale.
