A high-ranking House Democrat has put forth a new 1,000% tax that targets AR-15s and rifles of similar builds as part of the most recent Democrat bi to strongarm gun control by politicizing and making use of recent mass shootings across the country.
The House Democrat in question was Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia, who currently sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, stated to Business Insider that the effective increase of the cost of these rifles by a solid ten-fold would be a massive deterrent to the carrying out of mass shootings. This new tax could increase the price of the firearms up to anywhere from about $5,000 all the way up to $20,000.
“What it’s intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen,” claimed Beyer. “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.”
A complete and final draft of this new bill from Beyer is, as of writing, not yet done, and it it still entirely unclear as to when the new tax would even take effect and what the increased revenue would even go to, however on possibly place would be a restitution program that would be made for the family members of victims harmed in mass shootings. Beyer stated that the various law enforcement agencies, along with the U.S. military, would not be affected by the tax increase. The legislator went on to state that he thinks that his new bill will be able to make it through the House, where Democrats currently sport a solid majority, and sneak through the filibuster taking place in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris still holds the power to cast a vote to break and locked Senate.
Congress must act to prevent mass shootings.
I’m writing a bill to restrict the flow of weapons of war into American communities – including AR-15’s and high capacity magazines – that could bypass the filibuster and pass with just 50 votes in the Senate:https://t.co/dXFRFftYxu
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) June 5, 2022
Beyer’s current plan is to force the bill through via reconciliation, which would get around the 60-vote threshold needed to get through the filibuster. Many experts agree that due to it being a tax proposal, it could meet the requirement for reconciliation.
Currently, it is estimated that about 20 million AR-15 style firearms are in circulation in the U.S. and roughly 20% of all newly purchased guns meet that description. President Biden has previously sounded the horn for a ban on what the far-left states are “assault weapons,” despite the term not actually being a true firearm definition. Another bill that was put forth by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) provides a definition for their term “assault weapons” as “military-style” rifles, including any that have “a magazine that is not a fixed ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock.”
Along with these other proposals, Democrats have talked about increasing the minimum age at which someone could purchase an AR-15 from 18-21 years of age. The recent mass shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo were committed by 18-year-old men using AR-15-style rifles, but the most recent mass shooting that happened in Philadelphia was committed by multiple suspects using handguns.
“We need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines,” stated Biden just last week. “And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen the background checks.”