(RepublicanView.org) – California’s Senate passed new legislation to raise taxes on guns and ammunition by 11%. Democratic Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel introduced the bill in August and said it would boost the public purse by $160 million annually. Fellow Democrat and former Assemblyman Mark Levine said it would help to plug the Golden State’s $31.5 billion budget gap. AP News reported the funds will be used to promote gun safety and improve school security.
According to news outlets, Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino encouraged people not to allow politics to interfere with the ability to save the “lives of our children and providing mental health care in our school districts.”
California Rifle and Pistol Association President Chuck Michel objected to the new proposals and called them a poll tax on a Constitutional right.
California introduced first-in-the-nation gun restrictions last year in response to the Supreme Court decisions to overturn Roe v Wade and allow states to ban abortion, as well as its strengthening of gun rights in the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. Governor Gavin Newsom combined the two topics and introduced a gun-control law modeled on anti-abortion legislation in Texas.
The Texan law allows civilians to file lawsuits against anyone who provides or assists in the provision of abortion. Newsom’s new law permits members of the public to sue anyone who distributes illegal assault weapons or parts that can be used to build them. The restrictions also apply to guns without serial numbers or .50-caliber rifles.
Some Democrats are eyeing taxation as a potential method of reducing gun sales in a way that will not impede Constitutional rights. For example, in 2022, a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives proposed a 1,000% tax on AR-15-style rifles. The bill’s sponsors included Rep. Katie Porter of California.
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