Media darling David Hogg will soon be a year older than he was when a long gunman went on a shooting rampage at the high school he attended. Sadly, he’s not a lick wiser than he was back then.
This is lamentable not only for the 18-year-old Hogg — who continues to make an ass of himself publicly — but for the Left in general, which despite his vapidity has accepted him as a de factor spokesman for all things liberals, and especially gun control.
His latest brainstorm has been to call for a federal tax on firearms and ammunition.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Congress ought to create a federal tax on gun sales to fund gun violence research.
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) November 28, 2018
As Victor Morton of the Washington Times notes:
Reaction to his tweet fell along predictable party lines. One commenter sarcastically said “Stop making sense David, the Kochs hate that,” while another urged him to run for Congress (something he has publicly said he might do).
So what’s wrong with Hogg’s idea? The principal problem is that it’s not his. Nor is it a new thought. Such a law has been on the books for nearly a century. According to the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action:
The Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax (FAET) was first imposed in 1919. In 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act directed all revenue from FAET and related excise taxes to be used for hunting-related activities. The FAET includes a 10% tax on the sale price of pistols and revolvers and 11% of the sale price of other firearms and ammunition, and 11% tax on archery equipment. The tax is applied whether or not the equipment is likely to be used for hunting. The U.S. Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau provides an informative reference guide, and the Congressional Research Service compiled a report on the tax and relevant legislative proposals just this past March.
