According to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, a proposed ammunition tax (five cents per bullet, and one cent on smaller rounds, such as .22) likely has enough votes to move forward. This would be the second such tax levied against Chicago area gun owners in recent years: In 2013—on April Fools Day, no less—a $25 tax on gun purchases went into effect. (A similar ammunition tax was originally part of that package, but was later dropped.)
Between the $25 gun tax, the $150 concealed-carry permit fee (plus hundreds more for the required training), and the cost of obtaining and renewing the FOID—required for owning ANY firearm—the price Chicagoans pay to exercise their constitutional rights is already much too high. Further attempting to restrict the number of people who can afford to own guns—while crime rates continue to rise and gun-crime prosecution rates remain pitifully low—isn’t only unfair. It’s dangerous.
