BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today ripped a group of House Democrats led by Virginia Congressman Don Beyer for resurrecting a 2022 proposal to place a 1,000-percent excise tax on the sale of so-called “assault weapons” and” high-capacity magazines.”
“This proposal shows how outrageous some Capitol Hill Democrats have become in their efforts to restrict Second Amendment rights,” said CCRKBA Managing Director Andrew Gottlieb. “The fact that the idea failed last year, when it had a few more sponsors and when Beyer’s party was in the majority, shows just how inane most of his colleagues thought the proposal was.”
The proposed measure, H.R. 5135, was announced last week but there is still no language available on the House website. The only available text says the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 would be amended to impose the tax “and for other purposes,” whatever that might be.
“Congressman Beyer has been very candid about this proposal from the start,” Gottlieb said. “He acknowledged the intent is to essentially discourage people from purchasing modern semi-automatic rifles by literally pricing them out of the market.”
He suggested Beyer and his colleagues resurrected the scheme to appeal to the gun control extremists who now comprise the party’s base. The fact his proposal failed the first time should provide a strong signal how it will fare this time around, with a Republican majority.
“Even if this exorbitant tax were to somehow be approved,” Gottlieb said, “it is unlikely to survive a court challenge. The notion that government can literally tax a constitutional right into extinction is so astonishing that it suggests the authors have little grasp of the Republic as envisioned by the Founders, and absolutely no respect for the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.”