A new state tax on guns and ammunition could hurt people who want to protect themselves in Colorado, some residents said, with one county official telling Fox News Digital that the measure was “not legal.” “The goal is to reduce the number of guns,'' he said, “turning compliant gun owners into criminals.'' Owned. “
Colorado has imposed a 6.5% excise tax on gun sales on top of existing federal taxes, the latest in a number of gun control measures passed this year. Proposition KK is the first bill to be enacted through a referendum and received 54.4% of the votes on November 5th.
“The fact that they think all of this crime is caused by guns is ridiculous,” El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf told FOX News Digital. “It's not caused by guns at all. It's caused by malice. These laws turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals. But…the point is to reduce gun ownership. It's important. What we want to do is make it harder to own guns by eliminating places of sale.'' Buying, owning, and procuring guns.
“If the Democrats in Congress had their way, they would abolish guns completely. They know they're against the Second Amendment, so they're doing what California has done. Follow a lot of processes, but slowly close things at the edges and then slowly move closer to the middle. ”
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Mike Rickert (left) and Chris Jandro (right), owners of Hammer Down Firearms in Wheat Ridge, Colo., call Proposition KK their latest attempt to “crush small gun shops out of business.” It was characterized as being. (Chris Jandro)
Critics said the tax could also hurt small business owners.
Chris Jandro and Mike Rickert, who have owned Hammer Down Firearms in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge since 2012, want politicians to take a different approach to fighting crime. said. They say there have been 34 attempted robberies at their store since opening, with one successful robbery in 2017 resulting in $200,000 in damages.
“Nobody seems to care, but we're going to enact laws that impact law-abiding citizens,” Jandro said last week. “Isn't that appealing? You have to pay taxes for your constitutional rights!”
Guns are already taxed at the federal level at a rate of 10% to 11%. Rickert and Jandro said that in addition to federal taxes, the city of Wheat Ridge must levy an 8 percent sales tax.
“This bill is designed to crush small gun dealers, and the effective tax rate would be about 25%,” Rickert said. “It's a poll tax, a sin tax. You can't exercise your constitutional rights as a gun owner.”
Although the tax applies to all sales by licensed firearms dealers, manufacturers, and ammunition distributors operating in Colorado, Giandolo and Rickert argue that the tax unfairly targets companies like theirs. He said it would have a big impact.
”[Big sporting goods chains] We have a team of lawyers. We don't have the deep pockets of big box stores, so it's easy to go out of business,” Giandro said.
The bill is expected to generate $39 million annually, and the money would go towards mental health and public safety efforts across the state, particularly services for victims of domestic violence.
Majority Leader and state Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge resident and the bill's lead sponsor, said Coloradans who voted for Prop KK “closed the funding gap for crime victim services. “We made the right choice to strengthen our support.” .
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Representative Monica Duran (D) (left) speaks with Representative Mark Snyder (D) in the House of Representatives during a special session of the Colorado Legislature on Friday, November 17, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo courtesy of Hyoung Chang/Denver Post)
“Without the support of Crime Victim Services as a young single mother trapped in an abusive relationship, I would not be here today celebrating the passage of Prop KK,” Duran said in a statement. “From navigating the difficult justice system to supporting safe child care, crime victim services play a huge role in uplifting survivors by providing them with the resources they need to make a fresh start. Thank you very much for your support to Prop KK. ”
“If you're a victim of domestic violence, you want some protection,” Jandro said. “We have a lot of women who want to be protected because of restraining orders, because of their exes, and now these women have no protection from domestic violence. you can't. [Colorado State Representative] Monica Duran thinks she's safer without guns. ”
VanderWerf called the gun control laws “insensitive to public safety,” and said additional fines and jumping through hoops would “incentivize people who don't have enough resources and feel they need a firearm to help themselves.” “It would have a disproportionate impact on people living in the country,” he said. Protection of individuals, especially victims of domestic violence.
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Photos of various handguns on display. (St. Petersburg)
“This applies to women who may need to overpower someone stronger than them,” he says. “Does a woman who is a single parent trying to raise two children have time to take all these courses? Do all these kinds of jobs? Pay all this money to carry a firearm? “No, that’s hard” to them.
“It's like saying that if someone robs a bank, the state government will impose an excise tax and force other bank account holders to pay for their losses. The real way to solve these problems is to It's not about getting your health right, it's getting your mental health right.'' Treating it like some artefact about guns. ”
Duran could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
The KK proposal is the latest in a series of gun control bills to pass the state. Last year, a three-day waiting period was imposed on all gun purchases in the state.
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Another Colorado Senate bill (24-066) passed this year would require credit card companies to assign specific seller category codes to firearm purchases. This will make it easier to track firearm purchases and alert law enforcement if a surprising number of firearm purchases are made.
Gun sellers are now required to obtain a state permit in addition to a federal permit through the ATF and undergo training under SB 24-1353 through the state.
Starting this year, gun owners must lock their firearms in containers if they leave them in a locked vehicle under SB 24-1348. Another bill would require concealed carry permit holders to take an eight-hour training course instead of a three-hour course and renew that training every five years.
