Sin Tax On Firearms And Ammunition Latest Ploy By Cook County Board To Punish Hunters And Sportsmen

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Oct 09, 2012, 08:12 ET

CHICAGO, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director, Richard Pearson, regarding Cook County's proposed tax on firearms and ammunition.

"Today the president of the Cook County Board announced another in a long string of schemes to punish law-abiding firearm owners and firearm dealers. In the past, the county board has tried banning firearms and heaping all sorts of red tape on firearm owners and dealers – all in an attempt to discourage county citizens from exercising their 2^nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. This latest proposal, a tax on firearms and ammunition, will raise very little revenue and do nothing to stem the violent crime that Cook County has become famous for.

"As with the county board's past gun control schemes, this firearm and ammunition tax is just a smokescreen designed to obscure the fallout from ineffective government. Estimates are that about 90% of those people who commit murders in Cook County have previous criminal records. Likewise, estimates indicate that about 75% of murder victims have criminal records as well. These numbers are an indictment of the Cook County courts and the county's correctional system. It's clear that the county cannot deter criminal activity and cannot rehabilitate the criminals that do end up incarcerated. Regardless of what the county board would have us believe, the problem of crime and punishment in Cook County is not the fault of law-abiding hunters and sportsmen.

"Whether board president Preckwinkle likes it or not, the demand for firearms and ammunition by law-abiding citizens remains strong – in great part due to the failure of the county to keep its streets safe. Imposition of this punitive tax on guns and ammunition will do nothing to stem that demand. The reality is that lawful firearm dealers will avoid the tax by moving out to the collar counties and take their law-abiding customers with them. And with their customers will go hefty sales tax receipts that far out strip any revenues that the firearm "sin tax" would generate. And lastly, passage of this tax on firearms and ammunition will make reelection bids much more expensive for those board members who vote for it."

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org

SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association