On July 2, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) filed suit against the State of California for its illegal and punitive excise tax on firearms and ammunition. The suit was filed in the San Diego County Superior Court and is known as Jaymes v. Maduros.
Plaintiffs include Danielle Jaymes, Joshuah Gerken, Second Amendment Foundation, California Rifle & Pistol Association, and the National Rifle Association.
As we reported in May, AB 28, doubles the tax on guns and ammunition purchased in California, a calculated move intended to chill the exercise of Second Amendment rights. The new law went into effect on July 1.
This 11% excise tax on the sale of guns and ammunition is in addition to pre-existing 10-11% tax. California is now the only state with a separate tax on guns and ammunition.
“California’s Unconstitutional and immoral gun tax is a modern Jim Crow law that targets people and rights hated by tyrants like Governor Gavin Newsom,” said FPC President Brandon Combs, in a statement on X, adding, “Thankfully, the Constitution forbids California’s political warfare scheme. FPC and our allies are committed to restoring the right to keep and bear arms in California and throughout the United States.”
The complaint points out the very obvious Constitutional problem with the new tax:
Here, California effectively seeks the power to destroy the exercise of a Constitutional right by singling it out for special taxation. If this tax is permitted, there is nothing stopping California from imposing a 50% or even 100% tax on a Constitutional right it disfavors—whether it be the right to keep and bear arms, the right to free exercise of religion, or any other right…
Head over to our home page to support any of the Second Amendment advocacy groups that are supporting this lawsuit.
