SEATTLE (AP) — Three gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, sued the city of Seattle on Monday over its adoption of a so-called "gun violence tax," a tax on firearms and ammunition designed to help offset the financial toll of gun violence. The complaint was filed Monday in King County Superior Court by the NRA, the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, along with two gun owners and two gun shops. It called the tax legally unenforceable because Washington state prohibits local governments from adopting laws related to firearms unless those local ordinances are specifically authorized by the state. "The ordinance serves only as a piece of propaganda, because the ordinance's mandates are legally unenforceable," the lawsuit said. "The state of Washington has the exclusive right to regulate the sale of firearms in Washington, and cities may not enact local laws or regulations related to the sale of firearms." The Seattle City Council unanimously approved the tax this month, along with a companion measure requiring gun owners to file reports if their weapons are stolen or lost. The lawsuit does not challenge the reporting requirements. City Attorney Pete Holmes has argued that the gun-violence tax falls squarely under Seattle's taxing authority, and City Council President Tim Burgess, who proposed the measure, echoed that Monday. He said the state Supreme Court has never interpreted whether the state's general pre-emption of local firearms ordinances includes taxing gun or ammunition sales. "The NRA does this all across the country whenever they feel that anyone is trying to regulate firearms, and that's not what we're doing here," Burgess said. "We're using the city's taxing authority, which is granted to us by the Washington Constitution and the Legislature." Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, presents an award during … "We took a simple and commonsense measure to support gun safety research and prevention methods," he added. "It's not in any way an attempt to regulate the sale, use or possession of firearms." Officials modeled the tax after a similar one in Chicago's Cook County, Illinois; the NRA said Chicago is the only other city with such a measure. Seattle's tax, which would take effect in January, would add $25 to the price of each firearm sold in the city, plus 2 or 5 cents per round of ammunition, depending on the type. The revenue would be used for gun safety research and gun violence prevention programs. Between 2006 and 2010, there were on average 131 firearms deaths a year in King County, according to Public Health-Seattle and King County. An additional 536 people required hospitalization for shooting injuries during that time. According to Burgess, the direct medical costs of treating 253 gunshot victims at Harborview Medical Center in 2014 totaled more than $17 million. Taxpayers paid more than $12 million of that. City officials estimate that the new tax would bring in $300,000 to $500,000 a year, but gun shop owners told council members those numbers were inflated. They said the law would cost them customers and sales and could force them to move out of the city. This isn't the first time Seattle has imposed laws related to guns in recent years. In 2009, Seattle banned guns in city parks and community centers. The Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA successfully sued to block it. "The city does not seem to understand that no matter how they wrap this package, it's still a gun control law and it violates Washington's long-standing pre-emption statute," Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb said in a news release. NRA sues over Seattle's adoption of 'gun violence tax' - Yahoo News The battle for maintaining our second amendment rights never ends!!!!!!
Isn't this like jacking up the fishing license fee to pay for all those who fish without licenses, take over the limit because they got skunked a couple of years ago with the promise that the money will all be spent on improving the management of the existing State fisheries? No, sorry.... It is like passing a TAX on fishing reels, lures and bait, fishing line and poles.....
That whole left coast is infected with communist wanabe Californians and their utopian ideas that have failed everywhere they've been tried. A herd of them moved to southern Arizona during the 90s. Now the property and sales tax rates have skyrocketed while the quality of government services, from education to road maintenance, have precipitously declined. The county claims there's no money for road maintenance, but magically there's plenty of cash for a new soccer stadium. Not enough space here to really go off on this subject.
I can see where this will be a revenue and job killer. Seattle is surrounded by suburbs where this ordinance will not apply so budget minded people will make their gun and gun related purchases outside the city, thus the loss of tax revenue. As a result of the loss of sales guns shops will not hire as many employees. This is a lose- lose proposition. Typical liberal "well meaning" action has not been thought out. Idiots
Or it is well thought out and forcing gun shops to close within Seattle is actually the goal, along with the hopes that it will spread to other cities...
Thought out? Nah, otherwise the unintended consequences would have squelched the idea right off. Methinks, anyway.
The logic of taxing the people who obey the law to fund the medical expenses of illegal gun owners. ....
Seattle, is full of Liberals, and Kooks, and their numbers have been growing for 4 decades... Mostly Liberal KommieFornians that have moved North, to escape the Mexican Invasion, while their Money still buys something worth while. That is exactly why, AlaskaChick and I left, that State, back in '91 and never looked back.... Now they are even following us up here to Alaska, but one nice thing is, they can't live out here in the Bush, so we only have to deal with them when we go into town.... So Far.... They are still outnumbered in Alaska but have a FEW Liberal Enclaves, like Juneau, and FairBanks, both University Towns, with the Usually Liberal Players, that like to make NOISE.... Every once in a while one gets to noisy, and a Bear eats him.... Just the Circle of Life...
BT wrote, "Every once in a while one gets to noisy, and a Bear eats him.... Just the Circle of Life..." Too bad, so sad. It figures those knuckleheads wouldn't be adaptable to different surroundings. Instead of moving to a new area to accept it's challenges and to assimilate, they expect Alaska to adapt to them because they went there. Sometimes Mr. Brown just doesn't quite see it that way. Oh well, bon appetite Mr. Brown.
Our wolves, got hungry and ate a FlatLander School Marm, a few years back, in the Penninsula village of Chignik Lagoon.... She was out for an early morning run with her iPhone Ear Buds plugging up her ears, and never even noticed being tracked by the local Pack.... After being in the State for only a few weeks, she was a "Babe in the Woods" and had know idea of the dangers all around her. They found what was left of her after searching for a few hours, when she didn't turn up for school, that day. Troopers were called. They arrived 4 hours later with the local ADF&G Biologist. It was determined what happened, and the whole Village was Deputized to go out and hunt down and KILL the local Pack. That took a week, but they got most of the Pack. This was the FIRST CONFIRMED Wolf Kill of a Human in the USA, IN A HUNDRED YEARS......
