State gun rights advocates push back on proposed ammunition tax

HARTFORD — A proposal for a 35 percent excise tax on ammunition sold in the state to help pay the more than $1 billion cost of gun violence each year came under heavy fire during a public hearing Thursday.

Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, and other proponents are putting on a renewed push for a bill that’s been tried unsuccessfully before, and that would bring in $7 million annually in new taxes.

Gilchrest said her main rationale is that since there is no ammunition tax in the state, the entire cost of gun violence in Connecticut is footed by all residents when more than eight out of ten of them don’t even own a firearm.

“Why should the 84 percent of those who don’t own guns pay the same as those who do?” Gilchrest said. “The status quo is unfair to the 84 percent who don’t own guns and ammunition.”

Gilchrest said a recent congressional report showed that gun violence costs the state $1.2 billion annually — or $333 per resident.

She said the overwhelming majority of gun violence takes place in the state’s four largest cities of Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury. Her bill would mandate that the funds raised from the tax be placed in a non-lapsing account to be drawn from by programs and agencies who work on gun violence issues, and the large cities would benefit from the tax windfall.

Gilchrest said those who work in law enforcement and military personnel would be exempt from paying the tax.

Rep. Nicole KlaridesDitria, R-Derby, said she sees the 35 percent rate an “attempt to punish legal firearm owners in Connecticut.”

“Guns aren’t the issue, it’s mental illness,” Klarides-Ditria said. “We need to put our resources into metal health.” She added that if the bill is singling out ammunition, she wondered why knives, baseball bats and hammers aren’t on the list of things that are used as weapons because they contribute to the overall violence cost incurred by the state.

The bill has brought on an avalanche of opposition. Hundreds opposed to the bill submitted testimony against it and the hearing room was packed with opponents Thursday.