Cook County, Ill., is expected to pass a new
$25 tax on every gun purchase Friday as part of the Chicago area’s
efforts to maintain its strong gun-control stance.
“I’m not sure there’s anything we can do at
this point except laugh at it,” said Jake McGuigan, the director of
state affairs for the National Sports Shooting Foundation. “Looking at
it from the beginning, it’s philosophical. It has nothing to do with
raising revenue. They just want to go after law-abiding gun owners.”
Cook County Board of Commissioners President
Toni Preckwinkle says the tax will combat gun violence and raise revenue
for the county, which includes Chicago.
“It is very important to us to tax guns
because we know that guns are the sources of the incredible violence we
have in our neighborhoods,” Preckwinkle told a news conference.
Pro-Second Amendment groups argue the tax is
simply a way to punish lawful gun owners and will not generate
significant revenue or decrease crime.
“Plainly speaking, it is stupid and it will
not decrease crime because the only people this tax will impact are the
law-abiding,” NRA public affairs director Andrew Arulanandam told the Free Beacon.
The plan originally included both a five-cent
bullet tax and $25 tax on every gun purchase, but the bullet tax was
taken off the table this week to secure the votes of several
commissioners.
The bullet tax was projected to raise
$400,000 in revenue, while the gun tax would raise $600,000, Cook County
budget director Andrea Gibson told the Chicago Tribune.
According to Preckwinkle, the revenue would
defray costs of medical care for people who are shot and then treated at
Cook County Hospital.
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