Yep, once again it's the gun's fault, not the person who pulled the trigger. Not much point in commenting on that, um, idea.
Couple of other comments:
The new tax is in Cook County (the county that contains Chicago), but applies to all parts of the county EXCEPT Chicago. Can you even buy a gun inside Chicago?
What's to stop people from saving $25 by driving just outside the county line and buying one there? Or, if there are any gun stores in Chicago, going into the city?
The last line here describes how some people feel this tax violates their right to keep and bear arms. That brings up another interesting case where a comparatively large tax was placed on certain firearms.
In 1934 Congress passed the National Firearms Act, which placed a $200 tax on any sale of certain firearms, including machine guns, short-barrelled shotguns, and silencers. Back then before major inflation began, $200 was more than a month's pay for some people. Before long, a lawsuit was brought, and a Federal District Court in Arkansas took about 20 minutes to find the 1934 NFA an unconstitutional violation of the 2nd amendment.
The defendant in that case had a shady past and little money, but a local lawyer took the case for free ("pro bono"), and it turned out to be an easy slam-dunk. But then the government appealed the case directly to the Supreme Court. The lawyer would have had to do a ton of paperwork, in the typewriter days before Xerox machines and personal computers. And he found his client had vanished with no way to get in touch with him. So the lawyer decided not to bother preparing a defense or send anything to the Supreme Court.
The Government lawyers showed up in full force, of course, and
nobody at all showed up for the defense! The govt lawyers took advantage of this incredible windfall, and recited several flat fibs into the record. With no one there to refute the lies, the Justices rubber-stamped them into an Opinion reversing the District Court's verdict. And that case has been used as a precedent ever since, "proving" that huge taxes on inanimate objects like guns, did not infringe on people's right to own and carry them. The case was US v. Miller in 1939.
To no one's surprise, the government has been very careful to NEVER revisit that case. Their entire structure of Gun Control has been built on it. If it were ever brought before the Supremes again, with competent counsel on both sides this time, it would almost certainly be overturned.
Fast forward to 2013. If these lawsuits the article mentions over the $25 gun tax in Cook County, IL, ever reached the Supreme Court, I wonder if the US v. Miller case would be finally brought up again, since it is a very similar case (though with a higher tax amount in play)? Especially since the 2013 case affects ALL guns, while the Miller case was about only a few kinds.
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New $25 Gun Tax Begins In Cook County | NBC Chicago
New $25 Gun Tax Begins In Cook County
by Lisa Balde
Monday, Apr 1, 2013
Updated 8:26 AM CDT
Buying a gun in Cook County officially became more expensive this week.
A new $25 tax on every gun purchased in the county took effect Monday as part of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's plan to pay for the violence she says crowds jails and drives up health care costs.
The proposed gun tax is expected to bring in an estimated $600,000 in revenue.
The tax applies only to guns bought outside Chicago within the county.
"There are responsible gun owners in Cook County who use firearms for either protection or recreation," Preckwinkle said at the time. "However, the social and economic cost of the criminal and irresponsible use is very high. As a result, Cook County residents are paying for the negative impact of a product that only a small portion our population uses."
Preckwinkle dropped plans for a 5-cent bullet tax she said could have raised an additional $400,000. She plans to review the tax over the next year.
Not everyone agrees with the new tax, though, and some say it violates their right to bear arms. The Associated Press reports a group of area gun shops and owners sued last month.
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