A proposed 11 percent tax on guns and ammunition passed the California Senate on Thursday and returns to the state’s assembly for one more vote before going to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) desk.
Breitbart News reported the on the proposed tax August 23, noting that it was sponsored by California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D).
The Associated Press (AP) noted that the tax is being presented as a way to raise money for school safety.
The AP did not provide specifics on how the tax revenue would increase school safety, apart from saying it would go toward “gun violence prevention programs and security improvements at public schools.”
California bars K-12 teachers from being armed to protect their students and it also prohibits concealed carry permit holders from being armed on college campuses for self-defense.
California Rifle and Pistol Association President Chuck Michel rejected the proposed tax, saying, “It’s a poll tax. It’s a tax on exercising a constitutional right,”
Michel added, “We’re going to have to file a lawsuit to challenge it.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
