The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a motion for summary judgment in Poway Weapons & Gear v. Gonzales, a lawsuit challenging California's 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

In July 2024, Assembly Bill 28 went into effect in California, imposing an 11% tax on all firearms and ammunition sold throughout the state. The tax is imposed on the retail sale of "…any firearm, firearm precursor part, or ammunition" sold by licensed firearms dealers and manufacturers in the state. Plaintiffs in the case are Poway Weapons & Gear and Sacramento Gun Range.

"Fundamental rights cannot be hidden by the state behind a paywall," said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that conduct protected by a constitutional right cannot, for any reason, be singled out for special taxation. The right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment is meaningless if the government has the power to prevent the acquisition of arms and ammunition in the first place. And the power to tax is exactly that – the power to make unavailable. The present tax rate itself is immaterial, the authority to tax a fundamental right at 11% is the authority to tax it 150%. And anyone even superficially aware of California lawmakers' tendencies know how much they love taxes and hate your gun rights."

As noted in the motion, "…the State's tax implicates the purchase of protected firearms and ammunition, which is squarely within the protections of the Second Amendment. As the Second Amendment is 'not 'a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,' these long-held precedents apply with equal force to California's excise tax."

"California is the primordial ooze from which new novel Second Amendment infringement tactics are born," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "If this tax is allowed to stand, it's only a matter of time before every non-2A friendly state across America adopts similar legislation. California taxes gas to dissuade people from driving and cigarettes to dissuade people from smoking, so it's no secret what the state doing here: taxing guns to dissuade people from exercising their rights."

For more information visit SAF.org.

The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.