Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle recently announced plans to penalize, through taxation, the sale of guns and ammunition sold in the City of Chicago and its suburbs. This penalty is set to be proposed to the Cook County Board of Commissioners next week. Proposals such as this are frequently sold to the public as a way to reduce crime and increase tax revenue. However, this is nothing more than a politically motivated stunt to impose a punitive tax on a targeted group of law-abiding citizens who seek to exercise a constitutionally guaranteed right. This proposed plan would subject purchases of any firearm or ammunition to an additional tax above and beyond the rate at which other goods and services in this area are taxed. There is no evidence to suggest those who would pay this tax are misusing firearms and causing violence in Cook County. This penalty would only negatively affect law-abiding gun owners, and in this time of economic trouble would severely harm legitimate business owners inside Cook County as people look to avoid the penalties by purchasing guns and ammunition elsewhere.
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