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Whether or not you are violent, if you live in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) you are set to be the subject of a new “Violence Tax.” Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, recently floated the proposal for a Violence Tax. This new and unwarranted tax seeks to target the sale of guns and ammunition sold in the City of Chicago and its suburbs.
Preckwinkle refuses to deliver any details other than guns and ammo would cost more. The reported purpose of the tax is to help plug the county’s $115 million budget gap.
Preckwinkle’s chief of staff, Kurt Summers, reportedly stated that the aim of the proposal was to curb the number of guns in circulation citing a report from last summer, which stated nearly one-third of the guns recovered on the Chicago’s streets were purchased in suburban gun shops.
Cook County Illinois is seeking to plug its $115 million budget gap by applying a “Violence Tax” on legal purchases of firearms and ammunition.
However, Summers failed to address how Cook County’s lawmakers believe this would prevent criminals (who likely did not purchase the guns legally in the first place) from committing crimes by implementing another new tax. Won’t fiscally-conscious criminals simply drive to a neighboring county—if a few extra dollars even meant that much to them? Every day, we are bombarded with stories of the Mexican’s cartels shipping drugs across the border. I mean seriously, if the gangs have the resources to move drugs thousands of miles…
When are lawmakers going to wakeup? Do they honestly believe Cook County’s criminal element will take the time to stop and think about the ramifications of committing a crime, IF the replacement gun is going to cost more? Perhaps they believe a tax on bullets will financially cripple Chicago’s gangs and thereby reduce the number of drive-by shootings?
The motives being reported are in fact half true. The lawmakers in Cook County have run its finances into the ground. As a result, it is looking to make up the difference on the back’s of law-abiding gun owners. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has conducted studies of many of the gun-control laws in place including waiting periods, registration and bans on particular firearms. The results have shown that believing gun control laws have reduced violent crime is simply a myth, so why would a tax have an effect?
I offer the following question: If a respected Federal agency such as the CDC—which has never been accused of being an advocate for the Second Amendment—can come to the conclusion that more restrictive gun laws do not reduce gun violence, what in the hell makes Cook County think a tax will?
An armed citizenry is capable of defending itself in an emergency. However, Cook County, Illinois wants to tax local merchants out of business.
Previously, I have accused Illinois lawmakers of being mentally deficient, but I did not mean it as a personal challenge to see if they could prove me right! Let’s face it. Chicago has a violence problem that it is unwilling or unable to control. However, this is little more than an attempt to fund its failed policies while simultaneously attempting to tax legitimate businesses into extinction.
This proposed law is a money grab at a minimum and more likely a backdoor attempt to again subvert the Second Amendment. In McDonald v. Chicago the Supreme Court reversed the Seventh Circuit’s decision, holding that the Second Amendment was incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment thus protecting those rights from infringement by local governments. Losing in its effort to outlaw guns, Chicago is now attempting to tax its way into firearm suppression (not not the fun quiet type of firearms suppression).
Who does this hurt the most? Certainly not the criminals. It hurts legitimate business, law-abiding gun owners and the poor. An increased tax will make it harder for businesses to compete with retailers (wisely positioned) across the county line. Most of all, it will make it harder for the law-abiding poor to adequately defend themselves.
The 2013 spending plan that will contain this tax is set to be announced in the coming days. Now is the time to have your voice heard whether you live in Cook County or not.
