An Illinois lawmaker wants gun owners
to shell out extra taxes in order to finance a new grant program for
trauma centers, a move firearms advocacy groups say amounts to a "sin
tax" on law-abiding hunters and target shooters.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, in a bill
introduced earlier this month, proposed a 2 percent surtax on
ammunition. The proceeds would go toward a "high-crime trauma center
grant fund," which would then send the tax money to trauma centers in
"high-crime areas."
The idea is to begin to offset the high cost
of gun violence. Mark Walsh, campaign director for the Illinois
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told FoxNews.com that cost often ends
up being shouldered by these urban trauma centers.
"(The money would go) into communities here
in Illinois that have been damaged with gun violence," he said. "I think
it's a legitimate way to pursue funding."
But Richard Pearson, director of the
Illinois State Rifle Association, said the bill effectively saddles gun
owners -- hunters, target shooters and those who own firearms for self
defense -- as a whole with the cost of gang violence in high-crime areas
like Chicago.
"We aren't causing the problem. They are,"
Pearson said. "It's an attack on firearm owners and their rights. ...
They think that because we like to target shoot and hunt, we're bad
people, and we should pay for all the ills of the city of Chicago."
Since gun owners in Illinois have to have a
special ID card which requires a background check to obtain, Pearson
said those committing crimes of gun violence aren't likely to be paying
much into the proposed tax fund.
"They're not buying their ammunition
(legally). They're not paying any part of the tax. They're getting their
stuff illegally," he said.
He estimated a typical box of ammo runs for about $25 in Illinois, meaning the average tax per box would be about 50 cents.
Cassidy, a Democrat who represents a district in the North Side of Chicago, did not return a request for comment.
Her proposal would exempt ammunition purchases by the state's Department of Natural Resources.
All the surtax proceeds from other ammo sales would go toward the grant fund.
The National Rifle Association
is also opposed to the bill. Spokeswoman Stephanie Samford said
"law-abiding citizens should not be saddled with a tax on ammunition to
pay for the acts of violent criminals."
"This sends a message that responsible gun
owners are somehow responsible for violent crime, which is certainly not
true," she said.
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