MON | JUNE 3, 2019

News that a San Francisco-based business software company is dictating to certain retailers what they can or cannot sell at the risk of being unable to use its software was slammed by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as a form of “corporate coercion and social bigotry.”
22LR ammunition manufacturer ELEY has enjoyed success this shooting season, after winning eight out of 12 small bore medals and an additional eight quota places at the third 2019 ISSF World Cup in Munich.
Canik announced that Nils Jonasson recently won the United Sports Shooting League's MultiGun Championship, Tactical Optics Division in Boulder City, Nevada. Jonasson also placed second in the USSL Grand Championship, Tactical Optics Division. 

GLOCK, Inc. continues to spread the message about firearm safety with the annual GLOCK Safety Pledge through the month of June. Join the 50,000 people who have already taken the pledge to practice the four rules of firearm safety through #FollowTheFour. 
The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court issued a significant 53-page majority opinion in the criminal appeal of Commonwealth v. Hicks, ruling “that the government may not target and seize specific individuals without any particular suspicion of wrongdoing, then force them to prove that they are not committing crimes.”
Now available in FDE for both the SIG SAUER MPX pistols and carbines, these narrow profile, M-LOK handguard by Samson Manufacturing are the answer for those wishing to replace their larger and heavier factory handguard.

Pulsar’s new Thermion Thermal Riflescope will begin distributing in limited quantities, starting with XM models this month. It will be available in five different models.
Steyr Arms USA is offering the Steyr Elite Experience Giveaway. Running through the end of August, the Steyr Elite Experience Giveaway gives customers a chance to win one of three incredible Steyr Arms prize packages that include a rifle, training at the Steyr Academy and a travel voucher for flight and hotel expenses.
Their sizable economic force has established millennials and Generation Z as a key demographic for the shooting sports. The June issue of Shooting Industry reveals the ways dealers are meeting the challenge of engaging this burgeoning group of consumers to create lifelong enthusiasts. 

INTELCASE Company, the exclusive distributor of Negrini luxury gun cases, announced their partnership with the upcoming television series Sporting Classics produced by Dorsey Pictures.  The series will premier July 1, 2019, on Outdoor Channel.

 

Despite the fact that poll taxes were once an accepted way of collecting revenues in the early days of the United States, they were later used to suppress voting and became a synonym for racism. Saying that, FYI, isn’t inflammatory, it’s fact.

In the not-so-distant past, a poll tax was a condition for being issued driving licenses or resident hunting and fishing licenses. Until 1966, they existed in one form or another across the country. California, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts all had poll taxes, they weren’t limited to the “states formerly known as the Confederacy” as revisionist history might put it.

As is the case with virtually any tax applied to every citizen, the citizens least able to comply were the ones most impacted. The poor always feel the pain first. They have the least amount of padding between themselves and actions many others simply accept as a cost of doing business.

But there’s little doubt that states did use those taxes as a form of suppression. And it lasted far longer than you might imagine. That’s because 24th Amendment (passed in 1964) only eliminated the poll tax for voting in federal elections. States weren’t forced to eliminate poll taxes for “other” elections until 1966 when the case of Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled the poll tax in state elections violated the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Today, a pretty good case could be made that states seeking to tax firearms out of popularity -at least by law-abiding citizens- are essentially doing the same thing via taxation.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, already on record as saying he wants to make New Jersey a national leader on gun control, has significantly tightened already strict firearms rules. But he’s far from done, despite the fact that the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs have already challenged several of his newest laws, including the 10-round magazine limit on firearms in the state.

Now, Murphy’s using the dwindling state coffers as the rationale behind boosts of current gun fees. And they’re not insignificant. In some instances, they’re boosts of a multiple of ten times or more.

He’s framed his proposed hikes- projected to bring in around $9 million in additional revenue, as “what’s needed to support the efforts of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, our State Troopers and county and local law enforcement, to fight crime and track gun violence, and to combat the trafficking of illegal guns into our state.”

The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs’ executive director Scott Bach points out that Murphy’s essentially “taxing people who are not part of the problem” and the Association promises yet another legal challenge.

One New Jersey gun dealer, when contacted about the new fees, had a one-word description for them: “usury.”

Under the new proposal, the current $2 cost to apply for a handgun purchase permit would rise to $50-an increase of 25 times. Firearms purchaser ID cards would jump from $5 to $100, handgun carry permits would go to $400 (they’re $20 today) and a retail dealer license would only increase by a factor of 10, from $50 to $500.

But he’s not done…Governor Murphy also plans to propose an ammunition excise tax of 10 percent, a firearms excise tax of 2.5 percent and an increased fee on bear hunting.

One of his platform planks was his pledge to eliminate bear hunting in the state, so he’s proposing a beefy hike there- from $2/license to $100/per license.

Governor Murphy’s proposals aren’t guaranteed -because he still needs approval from a legislature that isn’t exactly ready to give his measures their whole-hearted endorsement. As some legislators have pointed out, New Jersey is already the “most progressive state in the nation when it comes to gun reform”. They caution that the fees don’t seem to raise “that much money” - but they’re balancing their positions with the outpouring of response they’ll be forced to deal with from constituents.

This is one debate that won’t drag on forever- the state’s budget must be finalized by July 1.

And we’ll keep you posted.

—Jim Shepherd

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JUNE 7-9
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Reveille Peak Ranch, Burnet, Texas. Contact: Dianna Muller di@pro3gunner.com Info: pro3gunner.com/team-match

 
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