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“From tobacco to seatbelts, using a public health lens of research and prevention and taking a common sense approach has allowed us to save lives in countless other areas. We can do the same for gun safety and Seattle can lead the way.” – Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess in an email blast to constituents  [h/t rt]

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72 COMMENTS

    • “The gun violence tax would be $25 per firearm and $0.05 per round of ammunition sold in Seattle. Don’t worry, it’s not like the gun industry can’t spare the change.”

      It’s the people that can’t. And that’s who will be paying the tax.

      • He speaks like a true politician that has no concept of economics, taxes and program funding. It’s the people’s money you idiot…not yours.

        • I’m pretty sure he’s aware of that. They want to discourage sales of guns and ammo, but they don’t want to come out and say it. So what’s the easiest way? Levy some taxes and pretend that the revenue will go to some gun violence prevention program or whatever. Increasing the price of something unnecessarily by a large margin is the easiest and most “polite” way of saying ‘we don’t like you, stop buying this stuff and go away.’

        • “The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
          -Baroness Thatcher.

      • That’s something that tax-and-spenders never seem to understand: No producer will ever just eat a tax out of their profits. It gets passed on to the consumer every single time. They always claim they want to help the “little guy” by taxing those evil corporations, but it’s always the aforementioned little guy who ends up paying for it.

        Although, in this case, I’m certain that this weasel fully understands that, and the purpose is a punitive tax on gun owners.

    • Lesseee… For 22LR, that’d be 525 * 0.05 = $26.50 just in additional tax…. Those rounds went from pre-SH at about $0.05/rd to about $0.10/rd, so now that’d be another 100% increase in pre-SH costs. The cost in gas would be minimal to get ammunition elsewhere. This would really hurt the LGS there.

        • Blimey mate , I meant me trousers hatch ,you know , the ol lizard door , we must have a lingo breakdown . We all button our hatches here in the land of milkey and honey bunches of OOOOOO’s . sorry chap , I’ll try and do better next go round .

    • The idea is to destroy sales of FFL’s inside the city limits, drive them out of business. Burgess is a full-left progressive. His agenda and attitudes create problems which if he were not a public figure would be seen as terror. Seattle is full of pseudo-American’s.

  1. Using the “public health lens” guns are well behind falls and unattended buckets of water. Would be a travesty to ignore the causes of such a great number of deaths to attack an object of such relative insignificance.

    Unless the real agenda is politics and not saving lives. But who would be so cold and callous to watch hundreds of thousands die while focusing on a non-issue?

    • It isn’t about logic or common sense . This is about getting their way . Just like the homosexual community . It was never really about equality , it was always about forcing non homosexuals into saying that there is nothing inheritably wrong with having sex with someone of the same gender . The gay community wont give up until they destroy the stigma that is attached to the sin . The gun hater won’t stop no matter how ridiculous their arguments are because they simply must win . The guns must go . Like a spoiled little punk child that always gets their way with mom and dad who gets out in the real world and can’t cope . I think I’ll go buy that 300 blackout Ruger mini I saw advertised , looks like a dandy . God bless , everyone !

    • I’m sure the PD would be exempt from this tax, just as they’re exempt from many other gun laws. The motto of governments everywhere is “Do as I say (under penalty of death), not as I do.”

    • Supposedly it is the seller who will pay the tax, so no “exception” for the PD would be applicable. Again, by accident or design the councilman is demonstrating a total disregard for how taxes on businesses actually work.

  2. To combat the high cost associated to arson, we should have a 5 cent tax on all matches. It is for the children.

    • And to fund research into hacking and to pass laws making it more illegal-er, how about a tax on computers and software? It’s not like Microsoft can’t afford it.

      While we’re at it, let’s fight child pornography by raising taxes on law-abiding camera owners.

  3. Should this pass, It would be interesting if a civil rights suit could be filed against the city for denying the poor their 2nd amendment rights. This is essentially a poll tax levied on exercising constitutional right. The same claims de against voter ID laws, that it unfairly disenfranchises the poor and elderly.

    • Even if it passes, it can’t be implemented. Washington has a state preemption law in place that prevents cities and municipalities from enforcing crap like this. If it passes, the Second Amendment Foundation (based in Bellevue, WA – a suburb of Seattle) would immediately file suit, the courts would issue a stay on the law, then rule it null.

      It’s political grandstanding – and perhaps another attempt to create a chink in the current preemption law (“See! We tried to pass common sense legislation, but the evil preemption law wouldn’t let us! Repeal the law (or create a big gap for Seattle)! For the children!)

      • RCW 9.41.290 says that municipalities and counties may not restrict firearms and ammo sales and purchases more than state law, except where exempted in RCW 9.41.300. RCW 9.41.300 does not say anything about sales tax.

        But if it goes to the courts, they might side with Seattle, because guns are evil.

        I think this is part of the council’s plan to drive all other business from Seattle to make more room for Amazon. They started with the 5¢ tax on bags. Next was the $15/hr. minimum wage. They have more genius ideas like this in the works.

  4. If I only use my ammunition for target shooting and competition, why should I have to pay the tax for other people’s irresponsible use (of course much of the so called gun violence is legitimate use in self defense, but whatever)?

    Heck, I bet a 6.5-284 has never been recorded used in a violent encounter ever in Seattle or likely the entire world. Doesn’t sound very common sense to me.

  5. Except in this case, it’s a public health concerned not do be armed. Being disarmed leads to rape, murder, and other forms of victimization. All of which are medical concerns. Apparently.

  6. He used tobacco as an example? By trying to be a nanny and save lives through smoking prevention, they are doing more harm than good. Doesn’t he know that there is a special tobacco tax that helps fund childhood cancer research? By discouraging smoking, he’s killing children with cancers, just like Mitt Romney!

    I say we encourage adult tobacco use, ITZ FER THA CHILLUNZ WITH CANSER!!!!

    /derp

  7. Let’s go with the CDC and their idea of gun violence being a health problem. Now we can also address all the hot air being put out by anti gun groups who don’t think or fact check themselves with a nice tax of say $25 per fact not checked, $25 for misuse of stats, and finally $.05 for every letter in their speech when the speech is incorrect. I think we could probably buy China (the country) in about a year and pay off national debt.

  8. Lol. He cites that people brought in for gunshot wounds at the local hospital were 30 times more likely to be readmitted for gunshot wounds than others.

    Duh… because you have a gangbanger problem, not a gun problem.

  9. Why not just tax conservatives and libertarians instead. In effect, that’s what they’re planning to do. Just think, you can tax your opponent into submission. This is one of the great dangers of granting any elected body the power to tax instead of retaining that responsibility with the whole of the people. Better yet, I’d love to see the US Constitution amended to say all taxes and fees will be applied equally, and no person, idea, or object will be exempted or given special status. That would mean a tax on firearms or ammo could not be imposed, but a general tax increase could. Anytime some politician wanted to raise a tax or impose a fee on anything, he wouldn’t be able to do it. It would have to apply to everything and everyone. How long do you think the public would stand for their shenanigans then?

  10. Love to see the same false arguments used against gun owners as is used against people making their own health care decisions Perfect.

  11. So I can just drive 15 minutes outside the city limits and purchase ammunition over the counter and avoid the city tax? Neat!

    Have online ammunition orders shipped to my door avoiding the city tax? Neat!

    Have my legitimate tax dollars wasted by the city when they have to defend this law in court? Neat!

  12. Another reason why I don’t live there. Reading this guy’s twaddle is like listening to a NAMBLA (National Man/Boy Love Association) advocate try to explain how that special love pedophiles have for little boys is a good thing. Whenever some advocate starts telling you something is only “sensible” you can damn well bet it isn’t.

    • Yes. This law seems invalid, as per state law it’s already “preempted and repealed”. They just need someone to violate it and be willing to go fight in court over it.

      I suspected it was intended as an end-run around preemption, but the preemption law specifically (among other things) covers “purchase and sale” of “firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components.”

      http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.41.290

  13. Any time a politician says “common sense”, you can be assured that it is not. Common sense and for the children is a sure bet that it is neither common sense nor for the children.

    • Yep. Except when it comes to vaccines. Everything the media and the government tells us suddenly is 100% proven and 100% true.

  14. Add 1 more reason to the list why Seattle can kiss my ass. Seriously, the only reason I’ve go within Seattle city limits is for medical reasons or it’s in the way when I’m going somewhere else.

    • Seattle is now on Gods tsunami list according to Pat Robinson , the ocean floor is about ready to release a little built up tension just off the coast there and the great bastion of progressive adventure will be washed clean by salt water and tumbled clean in man made debris . You folks an pack you guns up in water tight containers or LEAVE .

      • Ah, yes, renowned seismologist Pat Robertson… That charlatan has been making the same prediction for at least a decade. You’d think if God was talking to him, he’d have the details nailed down a little tighter, maybe even throw in an actual date and time once in a while. At the very least, God might offer up which year this supposed “cleansing” is going to occur.

        • I was just joking Stinkeye , I don’t think he actually said that , although he may yet . You know it was the progressive left , liberal , sinful , demonic , sexual liberated , occultist , that brought on Katrina . This stuff that is going on in Seattle will bring about ‘their demise’ . There , I said it , If I’m right I’m a prophet and if I’m wrong I’m a kook .
          I joke a lot in this comment section , hopefully to bring a chuckle to the glume and sometimes to tickle the mind . IT’S ALL IN GOOD HUMOR . Sometimes we can joke about a serious topic and make a point better than if we narrated a twenty paragraph diatribe .

  15. From tobacco to seat belts, and continuing onto consumption of “unhealthy” foods, privately owned guns, religion, and reproductive rights, statists will use the force of government to control all the people they feel are too stupid to make choices for themselves.

  16. I think he makes a good point, referring to mandatory seat belt usage. It saves lives. I think they should make gun ownership mandatory, too.

    • Curtis, don’t you see the states strategy? From the anti-smoking campaign to the mandatory seat belt laws, these are pre-cursors to conditioning the public into accepting being regulated on every level because the state knows better and cares about you. anytime you hear “common sense”, “public health” or “public good”, please understand you receiving state fed propaganda.

      • Rest assured, I can smell a statist idea from a mile away. And the aroma is not pleasant.
        I was simply trying to turn his twisted logic around on him.

    • Once , on a WV back road , while sitting in my Nissan Frontier truck , the road gave way below me and the truck and I tumbled about 200 feet down a 65 degree slope , over rock and between trees , into a creek at the bottom where I ended upside down on all fours in about twenty inches of water on the passenger side . The driver side roof was crushed down below the steering wheel . If I had been wearing a seat belt I would surely have died . I am not saying that seat belts don’t save lives , it’s the friggin mandatory crap that sticks in my craw . Sometimes seatbelts can kill you .

        • Point well taken and quite true , I’ve lived here for 56 years , with an occasional sabbatical somewhere else , There’s no place like home . Other states can advertise that they have jeep trails for the adventurous souls ,
          we live on our jeep trails , we drive them daily to work and back and love em . I have hunted often on the way into work in the mornings , not from inside my truck of coarse .

  17. I grew up in the area and it’s sad to see just how much Seattle has changed over the years. I live in an area of the Puget Sound region that is significantly more firearms friendly.

    Interesting legal issue. Seattle got its “no guns in parks” rules slapped down by the state’s pretty broad firearms preemption laws. One aspect of the las is that the state wholly controls regulation of “sales.”

    Seattle will probably say they’re not restricting sales at all – buy all you want! – they just want you to pay a tax on it. At first I didn’t think this had a chance of getting through the City Council but the local media has fallen in love with the idea. One guy even compared it to wildlife area usage fees that someone pays to go hunt or fish, being used for wildlife conservation.

    If that’s the logic being used, and it’s all about gun violence costs, then fine – charge a “gun violence user fee” to every gang banger they arrest for a drive-by shooting, or a “drug deal gone bad” assault.They already have plenty of other business fees – if shooting someone is part of your business model, then the city should levy a fee against you along with criminal charges.

    • Right, because paying Discover Pass fees that get misappropriated to non-state park/state forest uses is a good thing.

  18. Using a public health approach for “gun violence”? OK, let’s go there.

    Seattle is famous for its high sudden cardiac arrest survival rate. They achieved it by training thousands of ordinary people and even school students in CPR and AED use.

    It’s all based on the idea that sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. And when seconds count, the paramedics are only minutes away. If you call 911 to report someone having cardiac arrest, the dispatcher will talk you through CPR and using a defibrillator right over the phone.

    The parallels to emergencies like mass shootings or ISIS-style beheadings are profound: The citizen first responder makes all the difference.

    So yeah, let’s use a public health approach.

  19. While Seattle styles itself as “Bicycle friendly” no one considers how dangerous bicycles are. Between 2007 and 2011, there were over 1,800 collisions in Seattle.
    http://old.seattletimes.com/flatpages/local/bicyclecollisionsinseattle.html
    And it’s gotten worse
    http://old.seattletimes.com/flatpages/local/pedestrianandbicyclecollisionsinseattle.html
    “· Most fatal bike accidents in Washington State were associated with crossing roadways (35%), riding against traffic (27%) and turning into the path of a vehicle (10%). ”

    Clearly, bicycles are a public Heath problem and need common sense bicycle control laws.

  20. Seattle’s not real big. Easy to go next door. I was looking forward to moving up there, they may ruin it before I do.

  21. It was using a public health lens to look at the problem of heart disease that convinced TPTB that we all needed to switch to a low-fat, high-carb, processed food diet. Which has enriched the pharmaceutical an agricultural industries, but has resulted in millions of premature deaths, and sentenced tens of million to lives of illness and suffering.

  22. You guys are missing the point of this proposed tax entirely. It’s not about taxes, about gun violence, or control. It’s about putting the “undesirable” businesses out of business.

    There are only TWO gun stores in all of Seattle’s city limits. Discount Guns on Lake City Way and Precise Shooter in GreenLake. There are 8-10 within easy driving distance outside of Seattle. This tax will make those stores uncompetitive in the market and drive them out of business. When that happens, zero tax dollars will collected off gun/ammo sales in Seattle.

    This is no different than Operation Choke Point or the time the city put all the strip clubs out of business through sideways/backwards regulations designed just to cut them out of the market. What Seattle does not approve of, Seattle finds a way to get rid of.

    I love this state… EXCEPT for the cesspool that is Seattle. And yes I realize just how much worse we could have it (Chiraq, NY, the entire BosWash Megalopolis).

    • San Francisco California has only one gun store left. All the others were regulated out of business. The surviving store is heavily regulated by local commissars.

  23. taking a common sense approach has allowed us to save lives in countless other areas

    Thanks to our .gov leaders, not one single American will die ever again!

    Except veterans who die from VA neglect, hospital patients who die from medical malpractice, soldiers, people who die from diabetes and cancer because they stupidly followed the .gov’s food pyramid . . . .

  24. I think if they’re concerned about public health they should concentrate on the biggest killers, doctors and hospitals. That would do some good, and without raising taxes.

  25. And the dumber-than-a-rock media will lap this up with a spoon.

    They are the ones we should be targeting.

  26. “taking a common sense approach has allowed us to reduce and eliminate freedom in countless other areas.”

    FIFY

  27. I understand the godless anti gun people worship a statue of Joseph stalin in the Seattle area. The anti gun, anti freedom , leading genocide killer, communist Joseph Stalin is worshiped in the Seattle area.

    The voters of Washington state voted for gay marriage, Marijuana intoxication and against the second amendment. They are the same people who voted for Tim Burgess.

  28. Ah yes, “Public Health”, the new Divine Right of Kings by which government derives authority to lord over us peons.

  29. Gun violence is not a public health issue. That would be like saying that illegal street racing is a public health issue. The only way in which guns and public health are concerned would just be in public health authorities recommending to people that they store their guns safely, like out of reach of children, for sporting guns, store the guns and ammunition separately in the house, etc…that’s akin to the issue of safety features in cars like seat belts.

  30. how about we tax the criminals that use any firearm in a crime or are found in possession of any firearms send them out to the local farms as chain gangs to clean up dig ditches etc. lets start putting convicts to work and get rid of the welfare style prison camp. no tv, no radio no commissary just hard labor and beans make prison a place where they never want to go back to instead of a campground for liberal bullshitism

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