Challenge to Guns and Ammo Tax Heads to Illinois Supreme Court

Illinois gun owners will send their challenge to Cook County’s guns and ammunition tax to the state Supreme Court after an appeals court found the tax program doesn’t interfere with Second Amendment constitutional protections.

A spokesman for Guns Save Life Inc. said Wednesday the plaintiffs would appeal a ruling that dismissed their challenge to the ordinance. The group’s initial 2015 complaint asserted the tax violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, and is preempted by Illinois’ firearm owners identification and concealed carry laws.

Cook County, in 2013, enacted a $25 flat tax on firearms purchases. The county ...