by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
Cook County, IL, dominated by Chicago, approved a tax of $25 on every firearm on Nov. 2 ostensibly to help pay healthcare costs from gun violence. The vote was 9-7 on the tax proposal advanced by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
Cook County is the first major US metropolitan area to enact such a levy as a form of gun control. The tax is expected to raise $600,000 in revenue in 2013.
Thus, the nation’s third most populous county, with nearly 5.2 million residents, becomes the first large US jurisdiction to approve such a measure, according to the anti-gun Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said.
“We want to highlight this issue of gun violence and we also want to add to our resources to address it,” Preckwinkle told reporters, according to Reuters news service.
Preckwinkle did abandon an additional proposed tax of 5 cents a bullet because the tax in some cases would have exceeded the price of ammunition.
She said 70 percent of the people who came into the county health system with gunshot wounds were not insured.
There have been 443 murders in Chicago so far this year, surpassing last year’s 435, and 22% more than in the same period a year ago, according to Chicago police.
Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, called the Cook County proposal another scheme to punish law-abiding firearm owners and dealers. He said it would prompt people to purchase elsewhere.
Proposals to enact taxes on buyers or sellers of guns or ammunition have failed in six states, including California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, said the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Tennessee has a hunting-related 10- cent tax on sealed packages of shotgun shells and cartridges that applies to sellers. The money is used to support wildlife resources.
Sturm, Ruger & Company reported on Oct. 31 third quarter 2012 net sales of $118.2 million and fully diluted earnings of 88¢ per share, compared with net sales of $80.5 million and fully diluted earnings of 56¢ per share in the third quarter of 2011, a 62% increase.
For the nine months ended Sept. 29, 2012, net sales were $350.1 million and fully diluted earnings were $2.58 per share, up from the comparable period in 2011, when net sales were $235.6 million and fully diluted earnings were $1.55 per share.
The publicly traded company also announced that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of 38.2¢ per share for the third quarter Chief Executive Officer Michael O.
Fifer said the earnings increase was driven by the 47% growth in sales, largely due to new product introductions, and an ongoing corporate focus on continuous improvement in operations.
New product introductions in the first nine months of 2012 included: the Ruger American Rifle, SR22 pistol, 10/22 Takedown rifle, 22/45 Lite pistol, and Single-Nine revolver.
Hurricane Sandy interrupted operations at Henry Repeating Arms when the company’s Bayonne, NJ, waterfront facility suffered significant damage from the storm that devastated parts of the Middle Atlantic coast.
Presently without electricity, telephone and email service, Henry Repeating Arms asked that its distributors and dealers refrain from attempting to contact them, nor ship any firearms to the Bayonne facility, until the company notifies them that they are once again operational.
Company President Anthony Imperato said that when the NJ electricity provider gets power to the plant, plant employees would be able to get the operation back on track by the middle of November.
Remington Arms Company, part of the Freedom Group family of companies, announced it has acquired The American Parts Company Inc. (TAPCO), a designer and marketer of American-made aftermarket accessories and replacement parts for handguns, rifles, shotguns, modern sporting rifles and other tactical firearms.
All aspects of the product development cycle are managed from within the company. State of the art computer aided design, rapid prototyping and extensive testing have allowed TAPCO to bring innovative and dependable products to the shooting marketplace.
TAPCO will continue day-to-day operations at its Kennesaw, Georgia, facility.
“With the acquisition of TAPCO, Remington continues to demonstrate its commitment to the firearm parts and accessories business,” said Scott Blackwell, president of Freedom Group.
“TAPCO is well-known as a leader in delivering innovative and dependable products to the shooting marketplace.
We are excited about the breadth of the products they bring to our portfolio, and we look forward to utilizing our resources to ensure our consumers and OEM partners benefit from this important acquisition.”
