No. of Recommendations: 6
Is there anything in the 2A (or associated documents) that forbids instituting a compensatory tax on guns and ammo, much as we do for alcohol and tobacco; something to compensate for the healthcare costs the genpop is absorbing as a result of steadily increasing shootings??That would probably be found unconstitutional. SCOTUS has generally looked with disfavor on taxes that are specifically targeted to the exercise of a constitutional right. So, for example, in
Grosjean v. American Press Co. the Court struck down a tax levied against newspapers, holding it violated the First Amendment:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/297/23...Note that this doesn't mean that newspapers (or books or DVDs or record albums) have to be granted an
exemption from generally applicable sales taxes. It just means you can't have a tax that is limited
solely to newspapers (or any other First Amendment activity).
I expect the Court would apply the same analysis to firearms and ammunition. They can, of course, be subjected to generally applicable sales taxes just like any other product. But you can't single them out for a specific tax,
especially if one of the real purposes of the tax is an effort to impinge the protected activity.
