In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
'Bullet tax' amendment pulled from consideration t
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
'Bullet tax' amendment pulled from consideration this year
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
(Published Wednesday, August, 7, 2002, 3:25 PM)
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A proposed constitutional amendment to levy a nickel tax on every bullet sold in California won't be considered this year, meaning the first-in-the-nation measure wouldn't reach voters until at least 2004.
The measure cleared one Senate committee, but was pulled from consideration Wednesday before it was to be heard in a second committee.
Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, ran out of time to get it on this November's ballot, said Erin Niemela, his chief of staff.
The measure had already missed one ballot deadline, and had two more Senate committees to clear before it reached the Senate floor.
It also lacked the two-thirds approval it would have needed in both the Senate and the Assembly to get it on the ballot, said Luis Tolley, Western director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Inc.
His and other gun control groups supported the concept of the bill, but are generally focused on a second Perata bill, which has an Assembly counterpart by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood. Those bills would strip gun manufacturers' and sellers' liability waiver in civil damages lawsuits, and are expected to be called for floor votes in the next two weeks.
"That's been our focus all year," Tolley said. "While we support the (bullet tax) bill, it's not our top priority."
Perata had proposed the five-cent tax on each bullet go to hospital emergency rooms.
Niemela said critics raised valid questions about how the tax would be implemented, which Perata will consider with the help of Senate consultants and the Board of Equalization before reintroducing the legislation next year.
"If Don Perata wants to help trauma centers, the answer is not to raise the tax on ammunition and put the burden on the backs of law-abiding gun owners," said Chris Cox, chief national lobbyist of the National Rifle Association.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms suggested Perata would be better off requiring anyone convicted of shooting someone to pay their victim's medical costs before they are freed from prison. And the California Rifle and Pistol Association proposed a 25 cents per bullet tax credit for gun owners "for the tremendous public benefit their firearms provide."
---
On the Net: Read the bills, SCA12, SB682 and AB496 at www.sen.ca.gov
California Rifle and Pistol Association, http://www.crpa.org
http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/3884578p-4910504c.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
(Published Wednesday, August, 7, 2002, 3:25 PM)
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A proposed constitutional amendment to levy a nickel tax on every bullet sold in California won't be considered this year, meaning the first-in-the-nation measure wouldn't reach voters until at least 2004.
The measure cleared one Senate committee, but was pulled from consideration Wednesday before it was to be heard in a second committee.
Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, ran out of time to get it on this November's ballot, said Erin Niemela, his chief of staff.
The measure had already missed one ballot deadline, and had two more Senate committees to clear before it reached the Senate floor.
It also lacked the two-thirds approval it would have needed in both the Senate and the Assembly to get it on the ballot, said Luis Tolley, Western director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Inc.
His and other gun control groups supported the concept of the bill, but are generally focused on a second Perata bill, which has an Assembly counterpart by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood. Those bills would strip gun manufacturers' and sellers' liability waiver in civil damages lawsuits, and are expected to be called for floor votes in the next two weeks.
"That's been our focus all year," Tolley said. "While we support the (bullet tax) bill, it's not our top priority."
Perata had proposed the five-cent tax on each bullet go to hospital emergency rooms.
Niemela said critics raised valid questions about how the tax would be implemented, which Perata will consider with the help of Senate consultants and the Board of Equalization before reintroducing the legislation next year.
"If Don Perata wants to help trauma centers, the answer is not to raise the tax on ammunition and put the burden on the backs of law-abiding gun owners," said Chris Cox, chief national lobbyist of the National Rifle Association.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms suggested Perata would be better off requiring anyone convicted of shooting someone to pay their victim's medical costs before they are freed from prison. And the California Rifle and Pistol Association proposed a 25 cents per bullet tax credit for gun owners "for the tremendous public benefit their firearms provide."
---
On the Net: Read the bills, SCA12, SB682 and AB496 at www.sen.ca.gov
California Rifle and Pistol Association, http://www.crpa.org
http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/3884578p-4910504c.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
In a worst case scenario, thousands upon thousands of shooters could be forced onto public lands.
KeepAndBearArms.com, Flagstaff
Contact: Angel Shamaya, Executive Director, (928) 522-8833
Firearms Action Committee, Tucson
Contact: Ken Rineer, President, (520) 404-5891
August 7, 2002
The Arizona Game & Fish Commission is holding a meeting Friday morning that may result in the sale of an Arizona treasure to land developers. [Reporter: See the meeting minutes to verify this fact for yourself before you call Game & Fish for their song and dance: http://www.flagstaffoutdoors.net/BASF/BASF.html ]
The Commission will consider the sale or lease of the Ben Avery Shooting Range and land adjacent to the range. The Ben Avery Range is considered one of the top shooting facilities in the country and has been an attractive destination for shooters around the United States.
It's a safe place for people to shoot long range rifles and other firearms instead of forcing thousands more shooters onto public lands.
According to the minutes of the June 21-22, 2002 Arizona Game & Fish Commission meeting, the disposition of land adjacent to Ben Avery Shooting Range on I-17 will be discussed, and all shooters and gun owners are encouraged to attend. Of concern to many thousands of Arizona gun owners is the possibility of selling or leasing a portion of the range's land to developers who may not be friendly to the range. Total range closure is being discussed.
The minutes of the same meeting also contain statements that Pulte/Del Webb, a publicly held development corporation, has already pledged $500,000 to a shooting range project in the Buckeye Hills area. "What is curious to me is why a huge developer like Del Webb would give that kind of money to develop a shooting range clear across the valley from Ben Avery -- are they hoping to use this distant range as a replacement for Ben Avery Range?" said Angel Shamaya, Executive Director of KeepAndBearArms.com -- a Flagstaff-based national gunowners' rights organization with hundreds of members in Arizona who use the Ben Avery facility. "Or are they merely seeking to cash in on the millions of dollars the land could put into their bank account, regardless of public interest and safety issues?"
"Shooters from all over the United States come to shoot at this safe, well-established facility," Shamaya added. "The land was slated long ago for one sole purpose: a shooting range. Ben Avery is one of the very finest shooting ranges in the country. Anything that could in any way jeopardize the facility's current and future full use is absolutely unacceptable."
Ken Rineer, President of Firearms Action Committee of Tucson agrees. "The land for Ben Avery was deeded to Game and Fish for the purpose of a shooting range," said Rineer. "F.A.C.T. will support no other use. In Tucson, we have experience with Departments closing shooting ranges. U.S. Forest Service closed Tucson Rod & Gun Club in Sabino Canyon over 5 years ago. We also experienced the promise of a new range being built by Pima county. Monies were even approved by voters in a bond election -- but the promise to build a new range was never fulfilled."
Mr. Shamaya added, "Shooting ranges have come under attack all across America in recent years. Methods for closing shooting ranges have included the lease or sale of adjacent land along with well-planned attacks by landowners surrounding the range. The results have been consistently problematic for shooting ranges, and thus for the gun owners who use the facilities. The AZ Game & Fish Department is advised to find other ways to generate money -- ways that do not in any way jeopardize the future full use of the facility. Thousands of shooters rely on Ben Avery Shooting Range, and sending such a large number of gun owners out to the desert unattended could easily produce a whole new set of problems."
It is in the interest of all residents of Arizona to keep this world class facility open to the public. Whether you are a shooter who wants to shoot there, or an outdoorsperson who wants folks to shoot on an organized and safe shooting range, you should attend this meeting and be heard.
The AZ Game & Fish meeting on this issue is open to the public. Shooters who oppose any non-shooting use of Ben Avery Shooting Range's land are strongly urged to attend. Please show up, bring your friends, fill out a speaker's card, and make your voice heard.
WHERE: Woodlands Radisson Hotel 1175 West Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ
WHEN: 9am on Friday August 9th
ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH
2221 W. Greenway Road
Phoenix, Arizona 85023-4399
FAX Number (Director's Office) .....(602) 789-3299
Duane L. Shroufe, Director..............(602) 789-3278
Steve Ferrell, Agency Ombudsman .....(602) 789-3276
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=2551
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !