The National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups have hit back hard at one Missouri lawmaker’s plan to add a tax on guns sold in the state to pay for cameras for police officers.
Brandon Ellington, a Democratic lawmaker representing the Kansas City region, introduced separate bills that would require all uniformed police officers to wear body cameras and maintain recordings for 30 days, and would establish a tax on firearm sales to pay for the new mandate, Guns.com reported.
The tax would add a 1 percent cost to every retail sale of handguns and ammunition, with the proceeds sent to a new “Peace Officer Handgun and Ammunition Sales Tax Fund,” Guns.com reported.
Another tax on other personal properties would also be deposited into that same fund, the media outlet said.
Mr. Ellington said the cameras are necessary because of the recent events in Ferguson and St. Louis that grew out the police shooting of teen Michael Brown.
But gun groups aren’t happy.
“We will vigorously oppose this ill-considered proposal,” said Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation to Guns.com.
The NRA put out a written statement, Raw Story reported: “Forcing law-abiding Missourians to pay an additional tax on firearm and ammunition purchases is unmerited. Gun owners and purchasers should not be responsible for funding these projects. The NRA will continue to fight against such misguided encroachments on those who exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
The Associated Press, meanwhile, said Mr. Ellington’s measure is one of three dozen other bills that were recently filed on the heels of the St. Louis-area unrest.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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