by Awr Hawkins at Breitbart News
On October 10, 2012, Breitbart News reported that Cook County officials were pushing a “violence tax” on guns and ammunition to offset the cost of gun violence in Chicago. The Firearm Tax Ordinance was implemented in 2013 and the Chicago Sun-Times noted that it “[imposed] a $25 tax on the purchase of a firearm from a retailer in Cook County.”
A separate county tax “$0.05 per cartridge for centerfire ammunition, typically used for rifles, shotguns and handguns, and $0.01 per cartridge for rimfire ammunition.”
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled against the taxes, remanding the case to the circuit court “for summary judgement in favor of the plaintiffs.”
Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote the majority opinion, which said, in part:
This case involves a challenge to two tax ordinances imposed by Cook County on the retail purchase of firearms and firearm ammunition. …While the taxes do not directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to use a firearm for self-defense, they do directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to acquire a firearm and the necessary ammunition for self-defense.
Theis also noted…
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