Coming To a State Near You  by Tom Reynolds

NY State Ammo Background Check set to begin the Wednesday, September 13, 2023.  (That’s THIS Wednesday)

There are two facets to the new regulations. 

• First is the involvement of the State Police as a “middleman” for the purchase of a gun. FFL’s will no longer contact the FBI directly through the NICS check system. A gun dealer must now go through the NY State Police. A new fee of $9.00 to the state will be paid by the gun purchaser.

• The second aspect of the new law requires a background check for the sale of all ammunition. Also going through the NY State Police.  Each transaction carries a new fee of $2.50 to the state. There is not expected to be a limit on the number of rounds of ammo a person can buy with each transaction.  (Yet!)

I’m guessing there may be a lot of ammo sold today and tomorrow! 

On Wednesday, it is also reported that at least 100 federally-licensed dealers in firearms in New York will be closed for business because they will be on strike.  Without dealers, there will be nothing for you to buy: No firearms; No ammunition. (By the way, that’s the point of the strict new ATF enforcements on gun dealers.)

The strike is happening to raise public awareness of unjust laws passed in the summer of 2022, which dealers are fighting in federal court.

On July 25, 2023, the New York State Police “Joint Terrorism Taskforce” started enforcing of those laws against dealers without notification to anyone. (Dealers are terrorists?)  On September 13, 2023, the NYSP will attempt to launch its new firearms and ammunition background checks and it will start to build a database of gun owners.  (Illegal under federal law.)

At high noon on September 13, you may wish to stand in solidarity with dealers fighting for your Second Amendment rights, your privacy, your Heller-McDonald- Bruen rights. If so, go to your local rod & gun club, your local range, your local sportsmen’s association property, and fire a round. (Do so in accordance with the instructions of your range safety officer.) Make this the “Shot Heard ‘Round the State II.” This was done ten years ago after the “SAFE Act.”

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Not to be outdone, California is always competing with New York to be the least constitutional state in the country.

California legislators have approved new taxes on firearms and ammunition.  The legislation, passed in the California Senate, would levy an 11-percent (11%) state tax on all firearm and ammo transactions, according to Fox News.

The text of the legislation criticizes the increasing revenue from firearms sales by dealers and gun sellers after the coronavirus pandemic.  “The firearm industry has also enjoyed record growth and profits for years,” the law reads.  (How absolutely capitalist.  The government creates a shortage by not enforcing laws and consumers want a product to protect themselves and someone produces that desired product and makes a profit.  Nothing could make the left angrier!)

It’s a sure bet that the legislation will be signed into law by uber-progressive Governor Gavin Newsom, who has until October 14th to veto or sign the legislation.  (Newsom has also proposed creating a 28th Amendment to the Constitution that would ban so-called assault weapons and enact a mandatory waiting period for gun purchases.)

Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, said his organization intends to challenge the policy in the courts, according to Fox. 

Voting is a constitutional right and poll taxes were aimed at stopping people from exercising that right; they were eventually declared unconstitutional.  Michel said, “It’s a poll tax. It’s a tax on exercising a constitutional right.”

The Northern Mariana Islands passed a $1000 excise tax on handguns, which was ruled unconstitutional in Murphy v. Guerrero (2016).  (Not that the leftists in California – or anywhere else – have ever let the U S Constitution stand in the way of their quest for absolute. uncontested power.)

California makes Hochul look like a piker with the size of their tax.  But count on Kathy to take on the challenge.