A New Rule in California Means That Guns and Bullets Are Now Taxed at 11%. What You Need to Know
A new law in California means that guns and bullets will soon cost more.
Assembly Bill 28 says that starting July 1, companies that make, sell, or trade guns and ammunition will have to pay an 11% tax on them. This tax will go toward funding efforts to stop violence.
This is one of several new gun control rules. Others include the ones that make it illegal to carry a gun with you in public and the ones that require banks to keep track of gun sales.
What you need to know about the new gun law:
How does the new law in California work?
Assemble Bill 28—also called the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act—levies an excise tax of 11% on all guns, firearm precursor parts, and ammunition sold in stores.
Gun and bullet sellers now have to pay a new state tax on top of the 10% to 11% federal income tax they already pay. This tax helps protect wildlife.
The bill was written by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, D-Woodland Hills, after other lawmakers tried and failed to pass similar gun and ammo taxes.
In September 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the first law of its kind into law.
Where does tax money go?
The Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Fund will get the money from the new gun tax.
It says in AB 28 that the money in that fund must be “used to fund various gun violence prevention, education, research, response, and investigation programs, as specified.”
The money will specifically be given to the Board of State and Community Corrections to pay for grants and programs in California that help stop violence.
The law says that some of the money could be given to the California Department of Education to help with school safety and gun crime. That could include things like making the school safer and adding classes.
You can also use the money to support programs like the Gun Giving Up Grant, the Victims of Gun Violence Grant, and gun safety education.
There’s already a gun tax, right?
From 1919 to the present, anyone who makes, imports, or sells guns or ammunition is subject to a 10% to 11% government excise tax.
AB 28 said that the tax money was used to “fund wildlife conservation efforts that fix the damage that firearms and ammunition do to wildlife populations through game hunting.”
The law also says that tax money has been used to pay for “field research, technical assistance, hunter safety, and hunter development.”
Source: Sacramento Bee