A proposed bill would chip away at the Second Amendment rights of Maryland residents with an 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition, taking aim at gun owners who cannot seem to catch a break.
Senate Bill 118, would impose an 11% excise tax on essential items for hunters and ordinary gun owners in Maryland. Lawmakers claim that the money collected from this tax would be put toward a wide array of gun safety programs. However, Maryland can certainly find this money elsewhere. The state is notorious for raising taxes to fund budget deficits and wasteful spending; the budget is up 75% in just the last ten years. Instead of reining in out of control programs, legislators want to target Maryland residents who legally own guns to fund their initiatives. Tagging new taxes with a pleasant sounding program is a thinly veiled excuse to ignore long-running overspending on unnecessary programs.
The bill even excludes people in the private security sector, who are left out of the exemption list. These employees must purchase guns, ammo, and other accessories to simply perform their jobs. Instead of keeping Marylanders safe, the legislature will force security guards to use older equipment and purchase less ammo than may be necessary to contend with an 11% tax hike.
Furthermore, it is well known that people will always find a way to obtain what they want despite the cost. Many fear that this will only heighten levels of illegal firearm trading within the state and smuggling from outside of it.
Although this bill is still early in the legislative process, significant legal pushback could be on the horizon. States such as California have already implemented an 11% ammunition tax and the pushback for this has been clear so far with the California Rifle and Pistol Association challenging its unconstitutional nature. A state like Maryland has a much smaller population, leading to more obvious effects and it can be assumed that the “undue burden” on the right to bear arms will become a major debate within Maryland courts.
If this bill passes, larger retailers will begin collecting the new tax on July 1, 2027, while smaller retailers begin the year after.
