California is enacting legislation to further strengthen regulations, including imposing additional taxes on the firearms industry.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill on the 26th that aims to impose an 11% tax on gun and ammunition sales on local gun manufacturers and distributors.
Accordingly, gun manufacturers and sellers in California will have to pay an additional tax imposed by the state in addition to the existing tax (10-11% of sales amount) imposed by the federal government.
The taxes paid by gun manufacturers have doubled.
The Associated Press cited an analysis by ‘Brady’, a gun control advocacy group, and reported that such gun taxation at the state level is the only measure in the United States. Previously, Tennessee imposed a 10-cent tax on shotgun shells but abolished it in 2019, and Pennsylvania collects an additional fee of $3 on gun sales to cover the cost of background checks.
The state of California already charges a fee of about $37 to gun buyers, and most of this money is used for background checks, the AP reported. Existing taxes collected by the federal government from the firearms industry are used to protect wildlife and operate hunter safety programs.
The state of California announced that it plans to use taxes collected from the gun industry to support various gun safety measures, including school safety, gun violence prevention measures, and confiscation of guns from domestic violence offenders.
“This law is based on the simple premise that we must put the safety of our children ahead of the interests of the gun industry,” said state Rep. Jesse Gabriel, who sponsored the bill. However, gun advocacy groups immediately protested.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association told the AP that it plans to file a lawsuit against the state.
“This law does not make us safer,” said Chuck Michel, the group’s president. “We are responding with retaliation,” he said. He added, “The moment this bill was signed, the clock started ticking toward a ruling that would strike them down.”
On this day, Governor Newsom announced a bill to strengthen regulations by raising the right to possess firearms in public places to 21 years or older and to require unique identification numbers on handgun cartridges to track firearms used in crimes starting in 2028. He also signed a bill that would prevent potentially dangerous people from possessing guns through extensive background checks.
Governor Newsom emphasized, “The gun death rate in California has decreased significantly over the past few years as the state has shown leadership on gun issues,” and added, “Ultimately, we will need to establish a national framework to solve this problem.”
According to 2021 data from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of annual firearm deaths in California was 3,576, but the firearm death rate compared to the population was relatively low.
With 9 deaths per 100,000 people, it ranked 43rd among all 50 states.