Seattle’s new tax on the Second Amendment—$25 on every firearm and 5 cents on every round of ammunition sold in the city—is intended not to raise money for “gun violence prevention” as its proponents claim, but to drive firearms and ammunition dealers either out of business or out of the city, critics say.
Sergey Solyanik, who owns Precise Shooter, told MyNorthwest.com that he fought the new gun tax until it went into effect—on Jan. 1 of this year—but then moved his business out of Seattle. As a result, Solyanik said, Seattle will lose the $50,000 that his store paid in city sales taxes per year—and will not make a cent from its new gun and ammunition taxes from his business, either.
Pro-gun groups have sued Seattle, arguing that its punitive taxes violate Washington state’s firearms pre-emption law, but so far they have been unsuccessful.
