Repealing Punitive Gun Taxes: Say Hello to the RIFLE Act

Lower taxes? You’ve got our attention …

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) has energetically thrown its support behind the Repealing Illegal Freedom and Liberty Excises (RIFLE) Act, introduced by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

The legislation would remove the federal tax imposed on firearms and accessories regulated under the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA).

Joining Cotton as co-sponsors are fellow Republican Senators John Barrasso (Wyoming), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), John Cornyn (Texas), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), Steve Daines (Montana), Deb Fischer (Nebraska), Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma), Pete Ricketts (Nebraska), and both Marco Rubio and Rick Scott (Florida). Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Iowa has introduced companion legislation in the House, Cotton’s office noted.

“For decades, law-abiding American citizens choosing to own NFA-regulated firearms have been required to pay unnecessary taxes to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” explained CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “This is, and always has been, wrong and we’re delighted Senator Cotton and a dozen of his Senate colleagues have made this important move to correct the problem. We’re encouraged by Rep. Hinson’s introduction of companion legislation in the House that this measure will get the attention it deserves.”

Under NFA, such firearms as short-barreled rifles and shotguns—popular generations ago among outdoorsmen and women involved in hunting and trapping—fully-automatic firearms and widely popular suppressors, are subject to a special $200 tax which was originally adopted in 1934 to curtail, by making it prohibitively expensive, to own such firearms and accessories.

“Over the past few years,” Gottlieb noted, “ownership of NFA-regulated items has increased by more than 250 percent. The use of suppressors primarily as hearing protection at shooting ranges, and for hunting, is expanding. The RIFLE Act would only remove the tax on these items, while leaving other requirements including background checks and registration in place. We’re encouraging gun owners to support Senator Cotton’s legislation.”