Cook County, Illinois, home of Chicago, penalizes citizens exercising 2nd Amendment rights

April 2, 2013

Cook County, Illinois, home of Chicago, finds yet another way to penalize law abiding citizens attempting to exercise their constitutional 2nd Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.

Here they're adding another $25 tax on an already expensive item justified to "defray the costs of gun violence on county taxpayers — whether it’s in the public health system where the injured are treated or the local criminal justice system". Does that sound like "common sense" and "reason" to you? Consider the following:

* "Expected to bring in just $600,000 in revenues this year, the tax is more symbolic when you consider the county is a $3 billion operation that includes the public hospitals and health clinics as well as the jail and local criminal justice system." That's $600k vs. $3B. Is defraying these costs really the goal then?
* It gives no acknowledgement that there are more than 300M firearms in America that contribute in NO way to gun violence.
* "In their lawsuit, the gun owners and firearms dealers argue: “Proponents of the tax have admitted that its purpose is to curb the number of firearms in circulation. The Tax thus is intended to deter individuals from exercising their fundamental right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second and the Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and . . . the Illinois Constitution,” the lawsuit states." This sounds more like it, doesn't it? If we're being honest? (Honesty is not role modeled by our anti-gun politicians and media.)
* "“I supported this because it was a compromise to get rid of the bullet tax,” Commissioner Edwin Reyes said of the nickel-a-bullet tax Preckwinkle initially proposed but later holstered. She withdrew the measure after complaints the tax on a box of bullets would cost more than the bullets themselves." So when one unreasonable tax and infringement on our 2nd Amendment rights is seen for what it is and stopped, just reload with another one, just as unreasonable.

I think if I lived in Cook County I'd be buying my firearms, ammunition and related accessories in neighboring counties. The law might still capture the $25 firearms tax but I'd still do my best to deprive them of the sales tax. Why is it that those who want to control us and our choices don't see the "unintended consequences" of their oppressive control measures?

http://www.suntimes.com/19168510-761/cook-countys-special-gun-tax-kicks-in-monday.html


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