A recent report cited that American gun owners could face billions of dollars in new taxes just to keep the guns they already own under President-elect Joe Biden’s new gun ban and tax plan. His incoming White House deputy chief of staff even touted the “mandatory buybacks” of certain rifles, in addition to a ban on assault-style weapons.
Reports estimate at least 20 million rifles and 150 million ammunition magazines would be affected by the sales ban. It would force a ban on new sales of AR-15 rifles, machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles. Owners would have to surrender the guns they legally own, register under the National Firearms Act, then be required to pay a $200 tax stamp for each item. This would cost Americans more than $34 billion in taxes. While Biden’s campaign site has not called for a new tax on firearms, his proposed plan suggests that results in a new tax unless something in the law were changed.
“We are actually the only campaign with a plan…that supports mandatory buybacks of weapons of war. An assault weapon ban is very, very important, and we need to have it. But that only takes weapons of war off the streets in the future. It does nothing for weapons of war that are currently out there,” said O’Malley Dillion, Biden’s incoming White House deputy chief of staff.
Conservative groups, Second Amendment advocates, and even former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders called the idea of mandatory buybacks unconstitutional. “It means that I am going to walk into your house and take something whether you like it or not. I don’t think that stands up to constitutional scrutiny,” said Sanders.
Gun sales have hit record sales this year, especially the AR-15’s that Joe Biden hopes to ban. They are extremely popular because they are effective for hunting, sport shooting, and home defense. These kinds of rifles made up nearly half of all rifles produced in 2018, which totaled around 11.4 million. The Biden administration needs to pause before enacting such harsh regulations. The support for stricter gun laws has dropped over the last few years and continues to as more Americans stray further away from government dependence and control.
“I think if [Biden and his team] were smart, they would look at those numbers and get an idea of where America stands on gun ownership and gun rights. America’s attitude on gun control is shifting more toward the idea that we need to protect our rights and away from the idea we need government control of our destiny,” said Mark Oliva, NSSF spokesman.
