Chicago Reinstates Gun and Ammunition Tax After Court Deems It Unconstitutional

[dawgcasa]

Yet again the Democratic Party “we are the party for the poor and oppressed minorities” enacts an unconstitutional law that predominantly impacts the 2A rights of the poor and minorities. Democrats then say to minorities “you don’t need guns to protect yourselves, that’s what law enforcement is for …”, and then they defund the police, get rid of bail, release convicted perps due to ‘overcrowding’, and put liberal DAs in place that won’t charge anything but the most serious violent crimes and release perps back onto the streets the same day they are arrested. An yet minorities still predominantly vote for Democrats. Huh? And Democrats call conservatives racists and ‘oppressors’? Talk about Stockholm syndrome.

[ja308]

Perfectly stated and delightfully accurate !

[Rogerbutthead]

So a poll tax would be valid if the proceeds are used for voter education?

Screw 'em.

[press1280]

They're taxing those law abiding gun owners to pay for the damage caused by those who don't follow the law. Makes sense.

[hossfol]

Chicago won't make a dime if no one legitimately buys any ammo there. And Beetlejuice's favorite "constituents," ghetto thugs and gangbangers, don't pay taxes anyway. Tough luck for those who sell ammo in the city limits, but you get what you or your neighbors voted for which in this case is politicians continuing to violate the Second Amendment despite a court ruling to the contrary.

[mit31]

The state Supreme Court ruling is what gave Chicago the (likely) easy out. The ruling that struck it down openly stated that it was struck because the tax spending was not related to the tax itself. If you look at the actual thread for this case on this forum, multiple people pointed this out.

Chicago just conformed the law to fix the problem the court spelled out in its ruling.

What was the purpose of filing suit against the ordinance as originally worded and operated if such an obvious and easily obtained work around was available to Chicago?

Substantial time, effort and money spent to overturn an ordinance that took no time, little effort and money to reinstate?

[gwanghoops]

Cook County Commissioners have been Democratic for decades.
They deserve this legislative POS.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

The state Supreme Court ruling is what gave Chicago the (likely) easy out. The ruling that struck it down openly stated that it was struck because the tax spending was not related to the tax itself. If you look at the actual thread for this case on this forum, multiple people pointed this out.

Chicago just conformed the law to fix the problem the court spelled out in its ruling.

Here's the thread... Illinois Gun Tax Ruling: Win! Here was the prediction...

Good and not so good.

Concurring opinion points out how the decision leaves open the possibility of any municipality enacting a more narrowly tailored law where the proceeds of the tax specifically go to curbing gun violence.

Expect them to pass another tax soon.

As the one OP article stated, one of the Judges also noted the same issue. From the opinion (link in OP)...

...Again, I believe that the majority’s analysis wrongly leaves the door open for a municipality to enact a future tax on firearms or ammunition that is more narrowly tailored to the purpose of ameliorating the cost of gun violence. The only problem with that approach is that it would still violate the Illinois Constitution.

Thus, even one of the Judges who concurred with the opinion pointed it out. As was summarized in this piece from Bloomberg Tax... Gun, Ammo Tax in Cook County Struck Down by Illinois High Court

...The ordinances impose a burden on the exercise of a fundamental right protected by the Second Amendment, Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote for the court. While the taxes don’t directly burden the right to use a firearm for self-defense, they do directly burden the right to acquire a firearm and ammunition for self-defense, Theis said.

Under the uniformity clause, the taxes must bear a reasonable relationship to the object of the legislation or to public policy, Justice Theis wrote for the court. But the relationship between the tax classification and the use of tax proceeds isn’t sufficiently tied to the stated objective of ameliorating the costs that gun violence imposes on society, Theis said. The taxes therefore violate the Illinois constitution...

Put another way, while the taxes do impose a burden, if the Government's interest is sufficiently tailored, then the burden is Constitutional so far as some of the Judges on the Illinois Supreme Court are concerned. The issue being... How many feel that way (evidently, a majority as inferred from the concurring opinion)...

I agree with the majority that Cook County’s special tax on firearms and ammunition violates the uniformity clause of the Illinois Constitution. Therefore, the appellate court’s judgment must be reversed and summary judgment entered on behalf of plaintiffs. I write separately because I believe that there is an even graver problem with the County’s tax that the majority should not ignore...

...and if it ever gets bumped to SCOTUS, would the Justices feel similarly?

[TruOil]

Point of clarification: It is not "Chicago." It is Cook County (aka Crook County). Cook County is significantly larger than the City and incorporates a whole bunch of suburbs. There are more than 800 local governmental units and nearly 130 municipalities located partially or wholly within Cook County, and it is the second largest county by population in the US after LA. Over 40% of the state's residents live in the county.

[Oxnard_Montalvo]

How hard would it be for a watchdog group to monitor the proposed spending?

In Chicago? They'll launder...err...'disburse' the money extorted through so many departments/agencies/bureaus/and other assorted offices that you will NEVER be able to track ANY of the funds.

Lets not forget that this city is NOT any less corrupt than the Capone days, they've just had a lot more practice in the art and people just got tired of calling them out on it...

[GregW948]

Guys... listen I keep saying this till I am blue in the face.. DUE PROCESS IS OVER.. the faster everybody realizes this, the faster we can go into the next phase to fixing all this...

Voting aint gonna work... spreading awareness aint going to work (the world already knows that this administration is dirty) wishing and hoping aint gonna work...

We are talking too much at this point... myself included...

[Jimi Jah]

Biden also ignores Supreme Court decisions. Remember the "remain in Mexico" crap?

Only a couple hundred have been sent back, the other 100k were released here.

[GregW948]

Biden also ignores Supreme Court decisions. Remember the "remain in Mexico" crap?

Only a couple hundred have been sent back, the other 100k were released here.

It's going to be interesting ... now since they made the AKGB