Tax Guns and Ammo Sales

Section 2: Adds a new section 400.04 to the penal law providing for the administration of the Firearm and ammunition excise tax.

Section 3: Adds a new section 99-uu to the state finance law creating a Gun violence prevention and school safety fund.

Section 4: Provides for a severability clause. Section 5: Provides for the effective date.

Justification

(a) Gun violence is a public health and safety crisis nationwide. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for American children. New York's gun death rates are substantially lower than the national aver- age, yet firearms remain a leading cause of death, injury, and trauma for young people and especially young people of color in this state.

(b) Gun violence also contributes to significant racial and socioeconom- ic inequality in safety. The most recent available data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that in 2021, nationwide, the parents of a Black son 13 to 19 years of age were more likely to lose their child to gun homicide than every other cause of death combined.

(c) A majority of gun assault victims survive the shooting but are often left to grapple with severe physical and mental injuries and long-term expenses, impairments, and pain. People who have been direct victims of violence are at substantially higher risk of being violently reattacked or killed, in part because a large majority of nonfatal shootings do not lead to arrest. Strained by the overwhelming number of shootings and related challenges, law enforcement agencies across the United States cleared less than one-third of aggravated assaults with firearms in 2019. Victims who have been shot, shot at, or chronically exposed to threats of gun violence and associated traumas may seek safety by affil- iating with armed groups or engaging in retaliatory violence themselves.

(d) Gun violence imposes enormous harms on those who are not direct victims as well. The Director of the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention presented research to Congress demonstrating that "youth living in inner cities show a higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder than soldiers" in the nation's wartime military. Many studies have documented how witnessing a shooting or being chronically exposed to gun violence is correlated with increased risk of negative health outcomes, criminal system involvement, reduced educational engagement and achievement, and longer-term negative impacts on workforce potential and earnings.

(e) The CDC notes that "Community violence can cause significant phys- ical injuries and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Living in a community experi- encing violence is also associated with increased risk of developing chronic diseases. Concerns about violence may prevent some people from engaging in healthy behaviors, such as walking, bicycling, using parks and recreational spaces, and accessing healthy food outlets. Violence scares people out of participating in neighborhood activities, limits business growth and prosperity, strains education, justice, and medical systems, and slows community progress."

(f) In addition to its enormous human toll, gun violence also causes economic harm in impacted communities and imposes enormous fiscal burdens on state and local governments and taxpayers. A 2021 report by Everytown for Gun Safety found that gun deaths and injuries cost New York $11.4 billion annually, of which $301.2 million is paid by taxpay- ers every year. Gun violence also imposes broader indirect costs in the form of reduced home values and reduced profitability for local busi- nesses. A report by the Urban Institute found that each additional homi- cide in a census tract in Oakland, California was "significantly associ- ated with five fewer job opportunities among contracting businesses (businesses losing employees) the next year."

(g) The firearm industry has also enjoyed record growth and profits for years. A 2020 Economic Impact Report by the firearm industry trade asso- ciation, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), noted that "the economic growth that America's firearm and ammunition industry has expe- rienced in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable." A 2022 NSSF Economic Impact Report said the same thing and documented a 269-percent increase in the firearm and ammunition industry's estimated economic impact from 2008 to 2021 and an 11-percent increase from 2020 to 2021 alone.

(h) There has also been an unprecedented spike in shootings and gun homicides across the United States. According to CDC data from 2011 to 2021, the nationwide firearm homicide rate increased 85 percent. Every- town Center reports that in an average year, 939 people die and 1,991 are wounded by guns in New York. Additionally, 48% of gun deaths are suicides and 49% are homicides. This is compared to 57% and 40% nation- wide, respectively. In New York, the rate of gun deaths increased 12% from 2012 to 2021, compared to a 39% increase nationwide. The rate of gun suicides decreased 19% and gun homicides increased 43% compared to a 19% increase and 73% increase nationwide, respectively. Guns are the leading cause of death among children and teens in New York. In New York, an average of 73 children and teens die by guns every year, of which 22% of these deaths are suicides and 75% are homicides. In the US, 33% of all gun deaths among children and teens are suicides and 62% are homicides. Every year, an average of 477 people in New York die by gun homicides and 1,151 are wounded by gun assaults-a rate of 2.5 homicides and 5.9 assaults per 100,000 people. New York has the 42nd highest rate of gun homicides and gun assaults in the US. In New York, 62% of all homicides involve a gun, compared to 78% nationwide.

(i) Firearms and ammunition sold by licensed manufacturers, dealers, and vendors of these products contribute to gun violence and broader harms. Gun dealers, for example, are the leading source of firearms trafficked to illegal markets, often through straw purchases, as well as negligent losses.

(j) The excise tax on firearm and ammunition retailers proposed in this act is analogous to longstanding federal law, which has, since 1919, placed a 10-percent to 11-percent excise tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition by manufacturers, producers, and importers. Revenues from this excise tax have been used, since passage of the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act in 1937, to fund wildlife conservation efforts that remediate the effects that firearms and ammu- nition have on wildlife populations through game hunting, particularly through grants to state wildlife agencies, and for conservation-related research, technical assistance, hunter safety, and "hunter development."

(k) This act will similarly place a reasonable surtax on firearm and ammunition industry members profiting from the sale of firearms and ammunition in order to generate sustained revenue for programs that are designed to remediate the devastating effects these products cause fami- lies and communities across this state.

(1) The National Rifle Association has referred to the Pittman-Robertson federal Firearms and Ammunition Excise tax as a "legislative model" and "friend of the hunter," and NSSF has repeatedly emphasized the impor- tance of this federal firearm industry excise tax as well. A 2019 state- ment by an NSSF director published on NSSF's internet website emphasized that "an often overlooked, and certainly under-communicated benefit, is the impact that excise taxes on firearms and ammunition have on conser- vation and wildlife populations," and a similar 2018 statement from NSSF praised Key Pittman and Willis Robertson, the legislators who sponsored the Pittman-Robertson excise tax, as "heroes of the most successful conservation model in the world."

(m) This act would similarly provide dedicated revenue to sustain and expand effective gun violence prevention, healing, and recovery programs for families and communities across New York, particularly in communi- ties most disproportionately impacted by gun violence.

(n) This act is consistent with our nation's longstanding historical tradition of regulating commercial firearm and ammunition manufacturers and sellers, including through federal, state, and local taxes on this commercial activity. An 1883 California statute, for instance, directed local governments to provide for payment of all revenue assessed as a tax, or received for licenses, on the storage, manufacture, and sale of gunpowder and related products in order to fund a "Fireman's Charitable Fund" to support professionals tasked with remediating the collateral impacts of firearm-related commercial activity on public safety through fire risk.

(o) In the historical record, other states, including Mississippi (1844), North Carolina (1857), Georgia (1866), Alabama (1867), Hawaii (1870), Nebraska (1895), Florida (1898), Wyoming (1899), and Virginia (1926), have similarly enacted longstanding commercial, occupational, or other taxes on those selling, purchasing, or possessing firearms and other dangerous weapons.

(p) The tax specified in this act is a modest and reasonable tax on a profitable industry whose lawful and legitimate business activity imposes substantial harmful externalities on New York's families, commu- nities, and taxpayers. The modest tax proposed in this measure mirrors the Pittman-Robeftson federal excise tax on firearm and ammunition industry participants, is similarly dedicated to funding programs to remediate the harmful externalities of firearm industry commerce and is similarly unlikely to discourage lawful sales and commerce in firearms or ammunition. A gun policy research review by the Rand Corporation noted that the available "research suggests that moderate tax increases on guns or ammunition would do little to disrupt hunting or recreational gun use."

(q) The revenue from this act would provide sustained, dedicated invest- ments in programs that are effective at addressing and remediating harms caused by firearm and ammunition industry products, including invest- ments in: (1) community gun violence intervention and prevention initi- atives that help address risk factors for violent behavior, protect and heal victims, interrupt cycles of shootings, trauma, and retaliation among those at highest risk, and address racial inequality in access to safety for communities of color; (2) gun violence research that helps stakeholders identify leading causes and evidence-based responses to gun violence; (3) initiatives that train health care providers about effec- tive clinical tools for preventing firearm suicide and injury; (4) crime victim services, including mental health services, for victims of mass shootings and other gun homicides, and individuals chronically exposed to gun violence in their community, including students in school districts disproportionately impacted by gun violence in the school or broader community; (5) coordinated efforts to ensure firearm and ammuni- tion purchasers are adequately informed about how to comply with New York's gun safety laws and responsibilities associated with safe use and possession of firearms, including child access prevention, and to promote effective and equitable implementation of New York's gun safety laws and programs; (6) programs that promote victims' and public safety by ensuring the prompt, safe, and consistent removal of firearms and ammunition from people who become prohibited from possessing them, such as after a gun violence or domestic violence restraining order; and (7) evidence-based activities to effectively and equitably support gun homicide and shooting investigations in order to deliver justice for victims of gun violence in communities bearing the brunt of these tragedies.

(r) In a report published in August 2023 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, researchers found that the increase in firearm purchasing during the pandemic increased the risk for pediatric firearm injury, resulting in a 41.6-percent increase in the firearm death rate for Amer- ican children between 2018 and 2021. During this period, racial dispari- ties in gun deaths also significantly worsened. According to the report, communities of color bore the brunt of this burden, with Black children comprising nearly 50 percent of children killed by firearms. Unlike other age demographics in the United States, nearly two-thirds of youth gun deaths were attributable to homicide, while less than one-third are attributed to death by firearm suicide. State variability in access to preventative strategies like violence intervention, suicide prevention, and firearm safety programs all contribute to disparities in pediatric firearm death rates. With this legislation, New York affirms its commit- ment to increasing access to these vital preventative strategies, particularly in our state's most vulnerable communities.

(s) It is essential that the Legislature adopt this act for the purpose of reducing and preventing gun violence, including by addressing risk factors for gun violence, and promoting healing and recovery for victims of gun violence, particularly in communities that are disproportionately impacted by shootings and gun homicides.

Legislative history

S.7733 of 2023-2024: Referred to Budget and Revenue

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately, provided that sections one and three of this act shall take effect January 1, 2027. Effective imme- diately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.