New York House Republicans take aim at Democratic state lawmakers’ push for bullet tax
Top New York Republicans are out to shoot down a first-of-its-kind measure now making its way through the state Senate that would place a new tax on ammunition.
The measure, introduced late last month by a pair of Democrats, would place a tax of up to a nickel on each round of ammunition measuring .22 caliber or less. Revenue from the bill would fund gun violence research being conducted through the state Department of Health and the State University of New York.
If passed, the tax would be the first state levy on bullets in the nation. The Empire State’s GOP delegation to the U.S. House is no fan of what state lawmakers from the other party are doing and believe it could violate the U.S. Constitution — which is their purview.
“Albany’s far-left tax on ammunition is a direct attack on every gun owner in upstate New York and the North Country,” House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “In the face of Albany’s latest assault on our constitutional rights, I will always stand up for New Yorkers’ Second Amendment rights and against this outrageous tax proposal.”
GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney denounced the bill as “yet another attempt by far-left progressives in Albany to undermine the ability of upstate New Yorkers to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
“Downstate progressives are once again showing their disdain for our upstate values,” she added. “Instead of protecting our constitutional rights, New York Democrats want to legislate gun owners straight out of New York.”
Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, said Democrats are once again looking to punish law-abiding gun owners for violence committed by criminals.
“Rather than focusing on solving the root problem of gun violence, Democrats again want to focus on objects — once guns, now ammo,” Reed said. “Enough is enough.
“Let’s tackle issues of untreated mental illness, criminal propensities, and unchecked drug trafficking that are the true major drivers of gun violence,” he added.
Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who served in the state Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House, denounced the proposal as a “punitive measure” that would “unfairly target law-abiding gun owners.”
“It’s outrageous, and I would urge my former colleagues in the state Legislature to reject it out of hand,” he said.
Even though the tax would only add between 2-5 cents to the price of a round, Rep. Chris Jacobs said it was ill-advised.
“Ammo prices are already higher than they have been in years,” Jacobs, a Republican, said. “Adding an additional tax will only be an additional barrier to law-abiding citizens practicing their Second Amendment rights.”
The bill’s sponsors, state Democratic Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, meanwhile, have argued that their bill is forward-thinking and would serve to prevent gun violence at a time of alarming spikes in crime in the Empire State.
“By taxing ammunition, we are fairly funding research that will help us build smart and effective policies,” Gounardes said last week.
“When we talk about gun violence prevention and community-based policies that help to interrupt cycles of violence, resources matter,” Fahy added, arguing that the bill was directing such resources “where they’re most effectively used and protecting more New Yorkers from the scourge of gun violence.”
