Rhode Island: House Committee to Consider Governor’s Gun Tax Legislation on Thursday

[Charlie T Waite]

On Thursday, February 28, the House Finance Committee is scheduled to consider one of Governor Gina Raimondo's budget proposals which includes an additional 10 percent excise tax on all firearms and ammunition, raising the total tax to 17 percent.  It is crucial that you attend this hearing and strongly urge committee members to OPPOSE this unnecessary legislation.  Please also contact members of the committee and strongly urge them to OPPOSE this tax proposal.

The hearing will take place upon "rise of the House," or at approximately 4:00 p.m. in Room 35.  NRA-ILA and local Second Amendment groups are encouraging all gun owners to go to the Statehouse late Thursday afternoon.  Please remember to wear yellow in solidarity with fellow gun owners and respectfully request that your legislators remove this onerous tax.    

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall once famously wrote, "The power to tax is the power to destroy."  Gov. Raimondo's gun tax is nothing more than an assault on the Second Amendment and a poll tax on a constitutional right.