Setting extremely high “sin taxes” on guns and ammo is a de rigueur tactic increasingly being employed by the left to chill our Constitutional rights. It happened in California last year. And on April 1st of 2025, in response to the passage of Colorado Proposition KK, Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA filed a suit against Colorado to strike down the law as unconstitutional. Co. Prop. KK would levy a 6.5% excise tax on firearms, firearm components, and ammunition.
In February of 2025, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled his 2026 budget proposal, which included over $8 million in similar excise taxes. In late March, the NJ legislature began its budget deliberations, a process that typically takes several months. In last year’s session, Gov. Murphy proposed a litany of increases on firearms-related licensing and permit fees, all of which ended up on the cutting room floor. This year could be different.
The Frog Slowly Boils
Opening the door to special taxes on exercising Second Amendment rights is a dangerous path. In 2002, the NJ state excise tax on a pack of cigarettes was $0.80. That steadily increased over time, and in the latest budget proposal, Gov. Murphy plans to increase that tax to $3.00 per pack, a 375% increase over roughly 20 years. The policy goal of “sin taxes” is not merely to raise revenue to fund some specific government expenditure. It is a policy designed to discourage a particular activity. Rarely do these programs take a sledgehammer approach. As with cigarettes, the starting point excise tax was small but relatively painful. A pack of cigarettes in 1999 was under $3.00. Now, a pack of cigarettes is well over $10, with a significant percentage of that cost coming in the form state and federal excise taxes and ad valorem taxes.
Whatever introductory tax is applied to firearms and ammunition with the current budget proposal, if passed this year, will undoubtedly be steadily increased over time at a rate far above the inflation rate. Projected out over time, a Constitutional right will disappear, and small business owners throughout the state will have what is left of the carpet pulled out from under their feet.
Calling It What It Is
The proposed budget for this coming year includes nearly $60 billion in expenditures. The expected $8 million in revenue from guns and ammo tax receipts in comparison to that budget is a rounding error. The budget includes hundreds of millions in pet projects. $8 million is also a rounding error to the nearly $1.5 billion budget gap that the state recently found itself in. $8 million in special revenue has nothing to do with closing the gaps in the state budget. Gov. Murphy called it out to punish what his party believes is a political opponent.
See our related article: Is New Jersey Profiting Off Second Amendment Rights?
The morality and efficacy of sin taxes can be debated. Using taxes to discourage personal choices regarding tobacco or alcohol disproportionately impacts poorer and working-class people. While the rate of cigarette smoking has declined over that period, the use of alternatives like vaping has accelerated, and the overall rate of nicotine addiction has changed very little since 2002. At best, these excise taxes merely encouraged new technology and the development of new products to shift the delivery mechanism for nicotine. Are we healthier? Who can say? But using an excise tax to discourage exercising a core Constitutional right achieves no public good and, putting the constitutionality of such a tax aside, is immoral and unconscionable.
A Grave Mistake
Punishing criminal acts is in everyone’s interest. The proliferation of illegal firearms in black markets is similarly a shared concern. Under New Jersey law, the Graves Act creates mandatory minimum sentencing for defendants charged with using or possessing illegal firearms. Prior to 2008, the Graves Act included an intent element. But in 2008, the Graves Act was amended to include simple possession, meaning a defendant found in possession of an illegal firearm with no intent to commit a crime.
The problem, of course, is that with the high cost of obtaining all of the necessary permits, licenses, training courses to legally obtain and carry a firearm in New Jersey, and now proposed excise taxes, these policies make it impossible for people below a certain economic threshold to lawfully exercise their right to keep and bear arms. But these policies do nothing to make their neighborhoods and communities safer. A collective policy that hides core Constitutional rights behind a paywall and bans poor people from legally protecting themselves cannot simultaneously subject them to mandatory minimum sentences for doing what the state has forced them to do. Added to an environment where those who even attempt to lawfully exercise a right are denied at an alarming rate based on racial categories, and it is hard to not call this what it is: systemic racial and socioeconomic discrimination.
On April 3rd, in a recent hearing with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, State Sen. Doug Steinhardt (R – LD 23) said:
I think there is an invasive and time-consuming application process that we in New Jersey have to repeat every two years. Some outlandish increases in firearms fees. The administration is proposing doubling many fees relating to firearms licensing and even proposed increasing some fees by one thousand percent in some cases. I guess my next question would be: Do you think that only rich people with lots of time on their hands should be able to exercise their Constitutional right to carry a firearm?
Platkin responded with, “The fees are set by statute. So I defer to the Governor’s Office on those.” While Mr. Platkin refused to answer the question directly, on November 20th, 2022, Sen. John McKeon was more than happy to weigh in on the Assembly floor directly when the Bruen-response bill was passed:
We talked about historical precedent, I don’t want to get too deep into it, I don’t want to quote Thomas Jefferson, but I do know back when the Second Amendment was made part of the Bill of Rights, that the only people that had handguns were real rich people.
The above quotes from Democrats in New Jersey should quell any doubts you have about their intentions. Whether it’s via statute, tax, or process, they intend to minimize the ability of the population to be armed and exercise their Second Amendment rights. The fight is getting MORE difficult, not less. State-level groups like the New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate are on the front lines fighting these infringements every day. If you can, consider even a modest donation. Every dollar helps and we treat donations as your valued trust in us to continue to fight for your rights.
