Gun tax bill SB 2099 is a hoax

There has been a rumor making the gun ownership circles that congress is going to pass a law that taxes gun owners $50 per gun, per year and requires full disclosure of all guns in possession including make, model, serial number and caliber to the IRS. This is not the case….almost. There was a bill introduced into the Senate in 2000 that would have amended the Internal Revenue Code and therefore the National Firearms Act of 1934 to include handguns. The 1934 NFA is the legislation that created the mandate for tracking and taxing the manufacture and transfer of class III firearms and destructive devices. If made into law, handgun owners would fall under the same laws that owners of fully automatic weapons and firearms with silencers have to follow. It would have been the fear of national gun registration becoming a reality. Fortunately this legislation never had a prayer of passing nine years ago.

The original bill was S. 2099 (not SB-2099) and there are slightly different versions bouncing around the internet. In some versions the IRS would have a form that accompanied the 1040 or there would be a section of the 1040 that would require all gun information. A gun tax (usually $50 per gun) is mentioned. It is stated that either the senate does not have to vote on it or, it will be voted on while everyone is worried about health care and announced thirty days after passage. It may appear in a form that combines it with the very real and current H.R. 45; the Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.

Most of these allegations are incorrect about the real legislation from nine years ago. IRS reporting on income tax forms was never involved. The tax was on the manufacturing or transfer of a gun not an annual tax. It amends the tax code of 1986 that is already in place for destructive devices (class-III weapons). Federal, state and local law enforcement would be involved but only to share registration information. These are the same rules that every owner of a class-III weapon has to follow now. Furthermore, it only involved handguns, not all guns.

The bill didn’t have a chance and everyone knew it, even the man that introduced it. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) stated that he knew it had no chance of actually making it to a vote. This was attention getting legislation not intended to actually go anywhere. Legislators will do this when they believe strongly that a subject needs to garner increased attention but a press release isn’t enough.

The story would have ended there except that nine years later someone gave this bill a hockey mask and it is stalking sensible gun owners with all the tenacity that is usually attributed to the b-movie undead. The rumor preys on it’s well meaning victims through chain e-mails and internet message boards. So pervasive this has become that it was recently repeated at an outdoor show by an authority on the subject. It is believable and has enough grains of truth in it to sound plausible. In addition, take into account what Bobby Rush proposed with H.R. 45; a national gun licensing requirement that would be administered by the Attorney General. That legislation didn’t even get a co-sponsor and realistically has no future but it does remind us that there are people in this world that still want to unnecessarily and unfairly restrict the rights of citizens to own guns.

The bill isn’t important. The rumor isn’t important and no blame should be attributed to those who in good faith are trying to educate others. The important part is that a rumor distracted many well meaning people and pulled needed resources away from gun rights issues that are current and very real. In these times we can little afford to let a rumor have us rush out of the cabin and scatter about trying to find out why Billy didn’t come back with the pizza. That’s just what the real anti-gun monster would love us to do.