House Bill for 1,000% Tax on Assault Weapons to Be Filibuster-Proof: Beyer

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House Bill for 1,000% Tax on Assault Weapons to Be Filibuster-Proof: Beyer

Representative Donald Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, is seeking to introduce a 1,000 percent tax on assault weapons through a reconciliation process that would not require any Republican votes.

The congressman said the bill is meant to discourage Americans from buying deadly weapons that have been used in frequent mass shootings across the country. In the past three weeks alone, shootings in New York, California, Texas, and Oklahoma have left dozens of adults and children dead.

"What it's intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen," Beyer told Insider in an article published Sunday, while discussing his proposal. "We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation."

Reconciliation is a tactic that can allow laws to bypass the Senate's 60-vote requirement known as the filibuster. Under this process, a law can pass with a simple majority so long as every Democratic lawmaker supports it. Democratspreviously used this strategy last year to approve a COVID-19 relief package and the House-approved Build Back Better bill.

Virginia Democrat Donald Beyer is proposing a 1,000 percent tax on assault weapons in the aftermath of several mass shootings in the U.S. Above, assault rifles hang on the wall for sale in Chantilly, Virginia, on October 6, 2017.

One expert told Insider that Beyer's measure could meet the threshold of bypassing the filibuster because "taxes get more deference in budget reconciliation than other policies from a parliamentarian point of view."

However, the bill would still likely face significant hurdles, even among Democrats. Multiple lawmakers have previously proposed tax hikes on guns and ammunition in an attempt to drive down sales, but have been unsuccessful. Beyer's proposal also marks a much more significant tax increase than Democrats have targeted in the past.

The bill would only focus on assault weapons, such as AR-15s, but would not include a tax increase on bullets. However, any high-capacity magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition would be aggressively targeted, according to Insider.

AR-15-style guns can range in price from $500 to $1,000, meaning that a 1,000 percent tax increase could add $5,000 to $20,000 to their final sales price. The Democratic lawmaker said that he's open to negotiating that figure, however, but that the goal is to drive down gun purchases and limit the number of assault weapons in circulation.

"There's nothing magical about that thousand percent number. It's severe enough to actually inhibit and restrict sales. But also successful enough that it's not seen as an absolute ban," Beyer told Insider.

His proposal comes as Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over gun legislation in the aftermath of recent attacks against schools, grocery stores, churches, and medical centers.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden called on Congress to either ban the sale of assault weapons, or raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. He also called for a ban on high-capacity magazines, as well as increased background check requirements, and a repeal of the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability if their weapons are used in deadly attacks.

"How much more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say enough? Enough," the president said in an impassioned speech to the nation. "It's time to act. For the children we've lost. For the children we can save. For the nation we love. Let's hear the call and the cry. Let's meet the moment. Let us finally do something."
 
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How many RINOS will even bother to protest against this?

I’d been eyeing a preban Sportster. Maybe it’s time to buy it before this insanity adds $20,000 to the price.

Anyone know whether this will apply to private sales as well?
 
Bill link is not yet available.

This would price the proletariat out of semiautomatic carbines with a simple majority vote, bypassing the filibuster. Police would be exempt, of course.

The Hill refers to the targeted firearms as "high capacity."

Archive links are included in case of stealth-editing and people who are afraid of links.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) Drafting Bill That Would “impose a 1,000% excise tax on assault weapons”; Eyes Simple Majority Vote in Senate Using “Reconciliation”
https://archive.ph/Oa06V

Beyer to propose 1,000 percent tax on assault-style weapons
https://archive.ph/yMh4G
 
How many RINOS will even bother to protest against this?

I’d been eyeing a preban Sportster. Maybe it’s time to buy it before this insanity adds $20,000 to the price.

Anyone know whether this will apply to private sales as well?
Do you really believe this wouldn’t affect prices for pre owned? How could it not?
 
I'm actually ok with this. There is no reason for anyone to actually own an assault weapon. Every year thousands of kids are murdered by assault weapons. What are you people monsters? You need to give up your assault weapons so we can finally be like all the other first world countries.
Lead, follow or get out the way, bub.

The US is the central pillar of the "First World," how about they try to be more like us? ;)
 
You shouldn’t wait for an excuse to buy. That excuse to buy is the mere existence of the Democratic Party, and it has been lingering in DC for a long time. Now, don’t waste your time on the internet and go buy something.
Prob time to buy body armor as well, as that seems to be next…..
 
I guess there's already precedent with the nfa. All we need to do is classify assault weapons as nfa items at have the batfe require a tax stamp with a value tbd another time by unelected bureaucrats.
 
A bunch of unintended consequences I see here:
1. the bankruptcy of a number of firearms companies that rely on AR15 platform sales and accessories for a good percentage of their revenue because this will kill the industry
2. a run on anything deemed "assault weapon" as well as high capacity magazines
3. NES Classifieds filled with $20k prices for "pre-bans".
4. the underground polymer 3d printer industry becomes mainstream and criminals will be inundated with these coming from countries like Mexico.
 
I wonder if they will take away everyone's Mauser, Mosin and other actual weapons of war.
you need stop to wonder and just look at UK and other places laws.

no civil population nowhere is typically allowed to own anything with a rifled barrel. no handguns nor rifles. government does not allow no one in big numbers to own anything that can shoot back at forces they may send to shoot down any possible uprising. that is how it is in the world, america was one of exceptions - and the owners class here will not rest until this 'situation' is addressed.
 
Anyone know whether this will apply to private sales as well?
Depends on how it is phrased.

They're calling it a "Sales tax" instead of an "Excise tax" (the NFA transfer tax is the latter), so as discussed a private person-to-person transfer wouldn't appear to qualify as a taxable event.

the underground polymer 3d printer industry becomes mainstream and criminals will be inundated with these coming from countries like Mexico.
Even a cheap <$200 printer (pay cash at Microcenter) will suffice to print a lower receiver or a functional +10round magazine, as well as a mandrel to wind your own magazine spring from piano wire.

Why print in Mexico and smuggle across the border when you can print domestically? Maybe "print houses" will replace "grow houses" as the next moral panic about high-electricity-using homes stinking up the neighborhood?
 
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Apparently the backers skipped the chapter of pre-revolutionary history where the British "Stamp Act" was discussed.
Thanks. The relevant bit:

“Opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers pressured Parliament because their exports to the colonies were threatened by boycotts. The Act was repealed on 18 March 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act. A series of new taxes and regulations then ensued—likewise opposed by the Americans. The episode played a major role in defining the 27 colonial grievances that were clearly stated within the text of the Indictment of George III section of the United States Declaration of Independence, enabling the organized colonial resistance which led to the American Revolution in 1775.[8][9]
 
A bunch of unintended consequences I see here:
1. the bankruptcy of a number of firearms companies that rely on AR15 platform sales and accessories for a good percentage of their revenue because this will kill the industry
2. a run on anything deemed "assault weapon" as well as high capacity magazines
3. NES Classifieds filled with $20k prices for "pre-bans".
4. the underground polymer 3d printer industry becomes mainstream and criminals will be inundated with these coming from countries like Mexico.
Not unintended I think
 
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