Tax Ammo As If It Were Cigarettes
December 29, 2012
By Sara Noble



The power to tax is the power to destroy.

~ Thomas Jefferson

The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once proposed taxing a particularly lethal bullet by 10,000%. It didn’t go anywhere but the idea of taxing ammo keeps coming back. It was recently discussed as part of the UN Arms Trade Treaty but was rejected by the US administration.

Some legislators are now seeing the implausibility of ridding the country of 300 million guns and are coming to the conclusion that it would be easier to tax ammo into oblivion.

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, and Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury said that constituents are urging stringent gun and ammo regulations in the wake of the Newtown massacre.

They came up with proposals to limit access to high powered weapons and ammunition. One proposal would place a 50% tax on bullets.

“We tax cigarettes and alcohol even though a lot of people don’t get sick and die from them. It seems like a bullet is at least as dangerous as a cigarette,” Bye said.

Bye said it would be like the cigarette tax and would only apply to ammo not used at target ranges because they only become a threat once they are out of a controlled setting.

If their only goal is to put Connecticut gun dealers out of business, this should prove effective.

Everything liberals don’t like, they tax. Let’s tax their violent movies and video games instead.

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