Connecticut Democrats Propose 50% Tax on Ammunition

Two Connecticut Democrats have proposed legislation that could serve as the progressive left’s most effective form of backdoor gun control yet, if implemented.

State Senator Will Haskell and State Representative Jillian Gilchrest declared their intentions last week to sponsor a bill that would tax the sale of all forms of ammunition in Connecticut at a whopping 50%.

This backdoor gun control measure would serve a de facto purpose of effectively pricing out a great portion of middle and working-class gun owners, leaving Connecticut’s already significantly hollowed-out Second Amendment protections reserved exclusively for the wealthy.

The legislation would exempt law enforcement and military from paying the ammunition tax hoisted upon everyday civilians.

Ammunition is essentially useless without a firearm, and purchase of it isn’t subject to the same degree of legal scrutiny one would undergo when purchasing a gun. It’s also unclear how the ammunition tax legislation would deal with online ammunition sales in a world where the Second Amendment community increasingly relies on online retailers. If online sales can’t be subjected to the tax, the legislation could have the effect of placing many local Connecticut gun stores and shooting ranges out of business, stripping them of their ability to compete with online retailers for ammunition sales.

The state already has both an “assault weapons” ban and a ban on magazines with a capacity to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. It’s unclear how a heavy tax on ammunition would make average Connecticuters safer, especially when the state already has enacted severe measures with the intention of discouraging gun ownership among law-abiding citizens.

Connecticut had tragically been the site of the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, which motivated the state legislature to enact some of the aforementioned gun control measures.

 

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