Seattle gun tax failure? Firearm sales plummet, violence spikes after law passes

[Theodore]

When the City of Seattle passed a tax on all sales of guns and ammunition, the measure was hailed as a way to defray the rising costs of gun violence.

But since the tax took effect, those costs have only risen as gun violence in the city has surged. And the tax has apparently brought in much less than city leaders projected it would.

“How much data do you need?” asked Dave Workman, senior editor of TheGunMag.com and member of the Second Amendment Foundation. “The data says the law has failed to prevent what they promised it would prevent.”

Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess introduced the tax in 2015. It puts a $25 tax on every firearm sold in the city and up to 5 cents per round of ammunition. The measure easily passed and took effect January 1, 2016. Comparing the first five months of 2017 with the same period before the gun tax went into effect, reports of shots fired are up 13 percent, the number of people injured in shootings climbed 37 percent and gun deaths doubled, according to crime statistics from the Seattle Police Department.

Councilman Burgess never returned calls and emails for comment. Dana Robinson Slote, director of communication for Seattle City Council, said she was “politely declining your invitation for an interview.”

In selling his gun tax to the public, Burgess predicted it would generate between $300,000 and $500,000 annually. The money would be used to study the root causes of gun violence in hopes of reducing the costs to taxpayers.

Seattle officials refuse to say how much the tax brought in the first year, only giving the number “under $200,000.” Gun rights groups have sued to get the exact amount.

But Mike Coombs, owner of Outdoor Emporium, the last large gun dealer left in Seattle, said the actual tax revenue is almost certainly just over $100,000, a figure based on information he says the city shared with his lawyers.

Coombs said storewide, sales are down 20 percent while gun sales have plummeted 60 percent.

“I’ve had to lay off employees because of this,” Coombs said. “It’s hurting us, it’s hurting our employees.”

Employees at the Big 5 sporting goods stores in Seattle also report anemic gun sales. But there’s evidence Seattleites are just going outside the city to buy their guns. Coombs also owns a gun shop in the nearby city of Fife. Sales there are described as robust.

Another gun dealer simply left Seattle and moved his shop, Precise Shooter, to nearby Lynnwood. Sergey Solyanik said business has never been better. He said the gun tax has probably worked out to be a net negative for Seattle when factoring lost sales tax revenue.

Source, full story:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017...aw-passes.html

Gotta love liberals. They were wrong on TWO predictions in this one case. Gun violence went up, and the tax revenue was lower than they expected. It was two-fer of failure!

It's only certain demographics that are responsible for massive gun violence in the USA and usually it's not the guy named Billy Bob from the rural areas.

A prime example is Chicago and it has big nanny state gun laws, but the gun violence is through the roof.

I wish the NRA and conservative groups would point this out, but their asses are scared of being called racists, when it is the truth.

[John Barron]

It's only certain demographics that are responsible for massive gun violence in the USA and usually it's not the guy named Billy Bob from the rural areas.

A prime example is Chicago and it has big nanny state gun laws, but the gun violence is through the roof.

I wish the NRA and conservative groups would point this out, but their asses are scared of being called racists, when it is the truth.

the black population in Seattle is something like 8% but it would not be shocking if they happen to commit 90% of the gun violence in the city or some ridiculous number like that.