Less than a week after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) outlined his $38.6 billion state budget, including a proposed $9 million hike on gun fees and taxes, shockwaves could be felt throughout the state’s community of licensed gun owners and second amendment supporters, New Jersey 101.5 reported.
Higher taxes and fees for guns and hunters were keys to the Murphy proposal.
Fred “Rick” Friedman, CEO and co-owner of gun range RTSP, told the radio station he’s worried that if passed, the increases would make a constitutional right too expensive for a large part of the state’s population.
As laid out in Murphy’s budget blueprint, gun fees would increase from $5 to $100 for a firearms purchaser identification card, and from no charge to $50 for a duplicate ID card. They’d increase from $2 to $50 for a permit to purchase; from $20 to $400 for applications or renewals of gun-carry permits; and from $15 to $45 for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System review for firearms purchases.
“We’re not being terribly radical on this. Our current gun fees were set in 1966,” Murphy said in his budget address. “It’s now 2019. It’s actually cheaper to get a permit to purchase a handgun, $2, than it is to get a dog license in many of our communities.”
Additionally, a new excise tax on ammunition sales of 10 percent would generate $3.2 million. A new excise tax on firearms sales of 2.5 percent would generate $1.4 million.
Friedman said that Murphy trying to pass off the firearm-related increases as a money issue is “disingenuous” — that it’s ultimately about effecting more gun control in the Garden State. He said the governor comparing the issue to the cost of a dog license isn’t relevant, as dog ownership isn’t protected by the US Constitution.
He also said there are no other taxes associated with other constitutional rights, such as a fee for exercising freedom of speech on social media, or a tax to “attend a church, mosque or temple.”
Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has suggested he’s not eager to institute the fees.
“I think we’ve done a lot of gun reform in this state. We are the most progressive state in the nation when it comes to gun reform. And just to check a box to say you did something, I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Sweeney said. “And I don’t think it’s going to raise a lot of money. But I’m always open. This is the beginning of the budget discussion. You never say never on anything, until we get through.”
Friedman said RTSP serves a wide cross-section of customers, from rural to urban and across income levels, and said there’s notable concern about what the proposed fees and tax hikes could do to the affordability of gun ownership, whether for protection, sport or both.
As the state Legislature is scheduled to take up the governor’s budget proposal, the tax hikes are closer than many may suspect. Friedman told the radio station he hopes that gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are given a chance to be part of an honest conversation
