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Seattle council prez wants to tax guns, ammo

Dave Workman

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Seattle council president eyes tax on guns, ammo, but is it legal?

A proposal to charge a $25 tax on the sale of each firearm in Seattle, plus five cents for every round of ammunition sold in the city — reported this morning by the Seattle Times and various other news agencies — mirrors a gun control effort mounted three years ago in Cook County, Illinois, where it has not had any visible impact on the mayhem in Chicago.

http://www.examiner.com/article/seattle-council-president-eyes-tax-on-guns-and-ammo-but-is-it-legal
 
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Alpine

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The state of Washington hereby fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation within the boundaries of the state, including the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components. Cities, towns, and counties or other municipalities may enact only those laws and ordinances relating to firearms that are specifically authorized by state law, as in RCW 9.41.300, and are consistent with this chapter. Such local ordinances shall have the same penalty as provided for by state law. Local laws and ordinances that are inconsistent with, more restrictive than, or exceed the requirements of state law shall not be enacted and are preempted and repealed, regardless of the nature of the code, charter, or home rule status of such city, town, county, or municipality.

That covers this so many ways I can't even count. Open and shut case. Hope SAF has a field day with them. I just donated another $150 to SAF. They do good work. If any of you guys have some extra loose change hanging around throw it to them, they'll use it to help keep down bad laws like this.

https://www.saf.org/?page_id=66
 
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Difdi

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The real irony is that those same people wildly in favor of ammunition taxes as a disguised form of gun control would be outraged if there were a per-word tax on political pamphlets as a disguised way to stifle speech...even though such a tax would be equally legal and equally constitutional.
 

MSG Laigaie

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A tax on political pamphlets as a disguised way to stifle speech...even though such a tax would be equally legal and equally constitutional.

The prediction of some animals being "more" equal..................there would have to be exceptions for some..........sounds and looks familiar.
 
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Dave Workman

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Seattle’s proposed gun, ammo tax based on fantasy?
:banghead:
When Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess was interviewed yesterday by KOMO’s Lindsay Cohen, he asserted that, “Gun violence is a huge problem in our city, in our region and frankly in our whole country. We have an epidemic of gun violence,” but does the crime data back that up?

http://www.examiner.com/article/seattle-s-proposed-gun-ammo-tax-based-on-fantasy
 
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Whitney

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Poulsbo, Kitsap County, Washington, USA
The Tax Man

It is interesting to take note the document cited in Dave Workman's article. It looks to me like this has Dan Satterburg written all over it.

Note the use of the terms in the document cite "device" being inclusive as a firearm, just as 594 did.

The use of the term "device" means taxable ammunition now includes 12 gauge star shells for all King county boaters, and nail gun charges for all King County builders who use them.
I wonder how King County is going to enforce the "ammunition" tax?

I suppose you could just run down to Pierce county and spend your money there.


~Whitney
 

mikeyb

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+1. The pre-emption statute provides no apparent penalty for those entities that violate, or attempt to violate, the statute.

As noted in another thread:

[h=2]RCW 9.41.810[/h][h=1]Penalty.[/h]
Any violation of any provision of this chapter, except as otherwise provided, shall be a misdemeanor and punishable accordingly.
 

mikeyb

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When Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess was interviewed yesterday by KOMO’s Lindsay Cohen, he asserted that, “Gun violence is a huge problem in our city, in our region and frankly in our whole country. We have an epidemic of gun violence,” but does the crime data back that up?

uh, we have a bigger problem of homelessness and some dipstick project along the waterfront than this mythological epidemic of gun violence.

I was in San Francisco over the Independence Day weekend, and went to the area where the woman was randomly shot with a stolen gov't official's handgun. No one avoided the area. I didn't even see extra police (saw very few, in fact).

I hate politicians that cry wolf.
 

Alpine

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A few questions:

-Would the first or second level courts be likely to suspend these city statutes pending the duration of the inevitable appeals fight? Or would they go into effect regardless? If the statutes are eventually struck down and the taxes weren't suspended, will the FFLs get refunds? Can they sue for damages if they were driven out of business in the meantime?

-Is there any caselaw to support this absurd notion by Pete Holmes that this isn't related to "firearms law?"

-How can a 70-100% tax (think $0.05 on 22LR here) NOT be considered excessive and punitive and impairing our rights under the WA state Constitution section 24?
 
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Alpine

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Can't open carry if you can't own guns.


IF this doesn't get thrown out the libs will use the media to make a huge stink about how "awful" preemption is then they'll go for it at the state level or these taxes at the state level.
 

Dave Workman

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mnrobitaille

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Dave Workman

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FOLLOW-UP:

Gun ban lobby’s response to Seattle lawsuit ignores letter of law
:banghead:

Almost immediately after news broke yesterday that gun rights and firearms industry groups had filed a lawsuit against Seattle’s gun and ammunition tax, the gun prohibition lobbying group, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR), was lamenting that these groups were engaging in “obstructionist tactics.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/gun-ban-lobby-s-response-to-seattle-lawsuit-ignores-letter-of-law
 
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