Illinois Judge Upholds Cook County’s Guns, Ammo Tax

Second Amendment rights advocates will likely appeal an Illinois state court ruling that upholds Cook County’s “guns and ammo tax,” criticizing the program as an “illegal poll tax” and an undue burden on lawful gun owners.

A spokesman for Guns Save Life Inc., the lead plaintiff in a challenge to the Cook County Firearm and Firearm Ammunition Tax ordinance, said Aug. 27 the group would likely appeal a circuit court ruling that granted summary judgment to Illinois’ largest county. Cook County includes the city of Chicago.

The group objected to a 2013 tax of $25 on firearms purchases and a 2016 tax of 5 cents per cartridge on center fire ammunition and 1 cent per cartridge on rimfire ammunition.

“I expect there will be an appeal filed,” John Boch, the group’s executive director, told Bloomberg Tax. “We talked about it early on, even before we filed the initial complaint, thinking we would probably face an adverse initial judgment. We kind of built that into our planning.”

A box of .45 cal. ammunition is offered for sale at Freddie Bear Sports in Tinley Park, Illinois.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Maxon Shooter’s Supplies and Indoor Range in Des Plaines, Ill., a gun shop plaintiff in the litigation, said it would participate in the appeal. Maxon blasted the tax program as an illegal poll tax, a burden on retailers and lawful gun owners, and a violation of state preemption standards regarding firearms.

“The Appellate Court is a much faster track than the trial court typically,” Maxon told its customers in a blog post. The complaint was filed 5 years ago.

“We remain optimistic that we will win at the Appellate or Supreme Court level.”

Responding to Gun Violence

While gun and ammunition taxes have been discussed in various municipalities in the aftermath of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. in February, very few local units of government have enacted such programs.

Like Cook County, Seattle enacted an ordinance imposing taxes on both firearms and ammunition in 2015. A subsequent challenge by gun rights advocates ended on Aug. 10, 2017, when the Washington Supreme Court issued an 8-1 opinion upholding Seattle’s tax of $25 on retail purchases of firearms and 2 cents to 5 cents per cartridge on ammunition.

No Restriction on Gun Owners

Cook County Circuit Court Judge David B. Atkins upheld Cook County’s gun and ammo tax in a ruling dated Aug. 17.

Atkins agreed with county officials the tax didn’t violate either the Second or Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and didn’t violate the uniformity clause of the Illinois Constitution. Moreover, Atkins found nothing in the ordinance that restricts gun ownership.

“Plaintiffs provide no evidence that the Tax will have the effect of preventing their ownership or possession of firearms or that it affects the ability of law-abiding citizens to retain sufficient means of self-defense,” Atkins wrote. “Unlike those cases involving a weapons ban, the tax in this case neither takes away firearms nor restricts their ownership possession and does not burden the right.”

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle applauded the ruling, saying Atkins’ opinion “upholds our position that the taxes are proper exercise of the County’s Home Rule powers and do not in any meaningful way impede an individual’s ability to exercise their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.”

The case is Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Ali, Ill. Cir. Ct., No. 2015-CH-18217, 8/17/18.