Gun groups are suing to halt Colorado’s tax on firearms and ammunition that took effect Tuesday.
In November, 54% of Coloradans voted to pass Proposition KK, which established a 6.5% excise tax on firearm vendors for the sale of firearms, ammunition and parts.
The lawsuit, filed in Denver County District Court on Monday, calls the tax an unconstitutional “infringement-by-taxation scheme,” explaining that the cost of the tax will be passed from vendors on to Coloradans when they go to purchase firearms and ammunition.
“The tax on the exercise of Second Amendment rights implicates conduct protected by the Second Amendment’s plain text by adding to the cost of acquiring a firearm,” says the complaint, which is brought by the Colorado State Shooting Association, the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, Magnum Shooting Center in Colorado Springs and Zachary Langston, an El Paso County resident and NRA member.
“This tax is a direct attack on our Second Amendment rights,” the Colorado State Shooting Association said. “Coloradans already pay state and local sales taxes on these purchases, and now the state’s piling on a punitive gun tax that exclusively targets responsible gun owners.”
The 6.5% state excise tax is on top of the existing 10% to 11% federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition. Colorado is projected to generate $39 million in revenue annually.
The lawsuit lists Colorado Department of Revenue Executive Director Heidi Humphreys and El Paso County District Attorney Michael J. Allen as defendants.
“Colorado’s firearms excise tax is an overt assault on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Coloradans and a deliberate attempt to discourage the exercise of constitutionally protected freedoms,” NRA Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director John Commerford said in a statement. “Recently, anti-gun activists in Colorado have been adopting California’s radical gun control agenda to systematically erode gun rights in the state.”
The Colorado General Assembly recently passed a bill banning the sale or purchase of most semiautomatic rifles unless an individual completes a qualifying firearm education course, a bill increasing the age to purchase ammunition from 18 to 21 and a bill requiring gun shows to have liability insurance.
