Illinois Supreme Court shoots down Cook County’s tax on firearms and ammo

[PeteS in CA]

Illinois Supreme Court shoots down Cook County’s tax on firearms and ammo

https://capitolfax.com/2021/10/21/illinois-supreme-court-shoots-down-cook-countys-tax-on-firearms-and-ammo/

... While a municipality must “produce a justification” for its classification, we normally uphold a taxing classification as long as “a set of facts ‘can be reasonably conceived that would sustain it.’ ” Empress Casino Joliet Corp. v. Giannoulias, 231 Ill. 2d 62, 73 (2008) (quoting Geja’s Cafe v. Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, 153 Ill. 2d 239, 248 (1992)). Once the municipality produces a justification, the plaintiff then has the burden to persuade the court that the explanation is insufficient as a matter of law or unsupported by the facts. Arangold, 204 Ill. 2d at 156. […]

Relying primarily on Boynton v. Kusper, 112 Ill. 2d 356 (1986), plaintiffs assert that the ordinances may not single out the exercise of a fundamental right for special taxation to raise revenue for the general welfare. Plaintiffs further argue that the firearm tax merely funds the general revenue fund and that neither the firearm nor the ammunition tax is specifically directed at gun violence prevention measures.

We agree that the ordinances impose a burden on the exercise of a fundamental right protected by the second amendment. At its core, the second amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the home. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 635 (2008). In McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 778 (2010), the United States Supreme Court stated that “it is clear that the Framers and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty.” See also Johnson v. Department of State Police, 2020 IL 124213, ¶ 37 (“the second amendment right recognized in Heller is a personal liberty guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the fourteenth amendment” (citing McDonald, 561 U.S. at 791)).

While the taxes do not directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to use a firearm for self-defense, they do directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to acquire a firearm and the necessary ammunition for self-defense. See Illinois Ass’n of Firearm Retailers v. City of Chicago, 961 F. Supp. 2d 928, 938 (2014) (noting that the acquisition of firearms is a fundamental prerequisite to legal gun ownership); Jackson v. City & County of San Francisco, 746 F.3d 953, 967 (9th Cir. 2014) (the right to possess a firearm for self-defense implies a corresponding right to acquire the ammunition necessary to use them for self-defense).

[libertybele]

A positive.

[skeeter]

Good. Exactly how will this ruling effect similar laws in other states? Namely CA?

[Kamaji]

Interesting, given that it's coming out of Illinois.

[mystery-ak]

Illinois Supreme Court: Tax on Guns and Ammo is Unconstitutional

by Will

On Tuesday, October 21st, the Illinois Supreme Court, in a shocking win for gun rights and 2nd Amendment advocates, ruled that Cook County’s tax on guns and ammunition is unconstitutional.

For reference, the Epoch Times reports that:

In 2012, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a $25 tax on the retail purchase of a firearm within the county. The county’s Firearm Tax Ordinance was enacted in April 2013.

A separate county tax was enacted in 2015, which added $0.05 per cartridge for centerfire ammunition and $0.01 per cartridge for rimfire ammunition. Americans who fail to pay those taxes are subject to a $1,000 fine for the first offense and a $2,000 fine for subsequent offenses.

The Epoch Times reports that Justice Mary Jane Theis, in her 6-0 ruling on the case, found that the taxes “violate the state’s constitution because they affect law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment right to acquire firearms for self-defense,” reasoning that “While the taxes do not directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to use a firearm for self-defense, they do directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to acquire a firearm and the necessary ammunition for self-defense.”

more
https://trendingpolitics.com/illinois-supreme-court-tax-on-guns-and-ammo-is-unconstitutional/

[Fishrrman]

I'm wondering if a few of those Illinois Supreme Court justices own weapons themselves...