A invoice authored by a pair of Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin proposes a gross sales tax exemption on gun safes to encourage safe storage practices amongst gun house owners all through the state. In contrast to typical efforts to extend consciousness of the significance of protected storage, this measure doesn’t suggest fines or punishment however relatively acts as an incentive, making protected possession extra reasonably priced for Wisconsin gun house owners.
State Consultant Adam Neylon and Senator Van Wanggaard authored the proposal in hopes of curbing unintended deaths and suicides all through the state by ensuring unauthorized people are unable to entry firearms that ought to in any other case be out of attain.
“We’re providing this laws to encourage folks to retailer weapons securely, and preserve youngsters protected from unintended damage, demise and suicide. Merely put, this invoice promotes accountable gun security,” Neylon and Wanggaard mentioned in a joint assertion.
Wisconsin firearm deaths have elevated lately, with the newest information documenting greater than 800 deaths from gunshot wounds in 2022. Have in mind, nonetheless, that suicides had been the most important class of Wisconsin firearm deaths, accounting for 71 out of each 100, or over 500 of these documented incidents in 2022, a report excessive for the state. The statistic highlights the pivotal function of psychological well being within the overwhelming majority of those deaths.
Relative to the statistics, unintended shootings involving youngsters are a uncommon tragedy that gun safes are significantly helpful in stopping.
Help for the invoice from throughout the aisle got here simply hours after its proposal, with Democratic Representatives Lisa Subeck and Deb Andraca each signing on as co-sponsors of the measure, in keeping with their workplaces.
“Whereas there may be a lot we have to do to stop these deaths, rising entry to gun safes and selling protected storage is the very least we are able to do,” Subeck mentioned.
Don’t go down the trail pondering that every one Democrats care concerning the security and well-being of their constituents and maybe could also be involved with psychological well being points as a root reason behind violence and suicide, nonetheless. Consultant Andraca, ever the opportunist, stepped in to conflate the productive thought of tax exemption as an incentive with the infamous leftist ruse of disguising Second Modification infringement as “common sense gun security legal guidelines.”
“I hope this invoice alerts a brand new willingness by my Republican colleagues to work collectively and eventually move common sense gun security legal guidelines to maintain Wisconsinites protected,” Andraca mentioned as if on cue.
The same invoice was proposed in 2019 that obtained bipartisan assist however didn’t advance out of committee because the Wisconsin Division of Income estimated that it might have resulted in a lack of tax income for the state of $309,000.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers included a price range measure in 2023 that may have given tax exemption to gun safes, set off and barrel locks as half of a bigger firearms-related package deal, although the invoice didn’t move. Final month, Evers created a brand new workplace throughout the state Division of Administration tasked particularly with decreasing shootings after a December 2024 college taking pictures that occurred in Madison. Along with pledging $10 million in the direction of the endeavor, earmarked for distribution to highschool districts, metropolis and county officers, firearm sellers and nonprofit teams, the Democratic governor can be promising sweeping firearms-related proposals within the 2025-2027 price range, urging the Republican-controlled Legislature to move gun management measures which were beforehand defeated.
Depart it to Democratic lawmakers to take one thing good, like an incentive that doesn’t quantity to an authoritarian try to infringe on Constitutional rights, and use it to push their anti-Second Modification gun management agenda. It’s up to now unclear if the packages talked about by Governor Evers will embrace the measure to exempt gun safes from Wisconsin gross sales tax, nonetheless, it’s noteworthy to say that such exemptions presently exist in Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Texas.
