Guns are shown at Caso’s Gun-A-Rama in Jersey City, New Jersey, which has been open since 1967. The Alabama House of Representatives has approved a bill that would create a sales tax holiday for firearm-related purchases in the state. (Aristide Economopoulos/New Jersey Monitor)
There is no shortage of guns in the great state of Alabama. More than half of all households contain at least one firearm, putting our state among the highest rates of gun ownership in the nation.
Legislators have done their level best to keep our citizenry locked and loaded. Among our state’s permissive gun laws (or lack thereof): There is no waiting period to buy a gun in Alabama. We don’t require concealed carry permits. Assault weapons, bump stocks, and ghost guns are all allowed. It’s still possible to purchase a gun without a background check. We don’t have a secure storage law that requires firearms to be kept away from children.
The barriers to gun ownership are about as low as can be.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Unfortunately, we also have the fourth-highest rate of gun deaths in the United States, following only Alaska, New Mexico, and – in the number-one spot – our neighbor to the west, Mississippi. On average, one person in Alabama is killed by a gun every seven hours.
Like it or not, our firearm ownership rates and death rates are two halves of the same whole. This is common sense: More guns mean more gun deaths, including homicides, suicides, and accidents. That’s not personal judgment; it’s a fact.
Against this backdrop of readily available data, it’s ridiculous that the Alabama House of Representatives decided to use its precious time in late February to overwhelmingly pass a bill (HB 360) that would make the last weekend in August a sales tax holiday for guns, ammo, bows and arrows, and related accessories.
According to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, this legislation is intended to bring families together by getting them out in the wilderness to hunt. In reality, given the ease with which people can already buy guns, it’s an unnecessary piece of partisan pandering and a waste of legislators’ attention.
In one respect, Rep. Sells is absolutely right: The great outdoors can work magic on families. Some of my most treasured memories involve sitting around a campfire or hiking through the woods with my own little family. There’s nothing like the thrill of spotting a black bear through the trees or hearing a pack of coyotes yip and holler in the distance.
If we’re handing out sales tax holidays to support people’s outdoor hobbies, I wouldn’t mind one for camping gear. I’m sure any number of boaters, fishermen, mountain bikers, trail riders, rock climbers, runners, and spelunkers (why not?) would be happy to jump on the tax-free train, too. Not that anyone is offering. Our representatives are showering special attention only on gun owners.
During the debate on the House floor, Democratic representatives repeatedly asked Sells why, when the state has so many other pressing issues to address, this bill should be a priority. His response? He likes it, his constituents tell him they like it, and the sooner it’s passed, the sooner everyone can get back to focusing on those other issues. Supporters tout this bill as a slam dunk that supports the Second Amendment, lowers taxes, and helps small businesses.
OK, sure, but at what cost?
Consider how this bill stacks up against Alabama’s two existing annual sales tax holidays: July’s back-to-school holiday, which helps families defray the cost of classroom supplies, and February’s severe weather preparedness holiday, which lowers the cost of storm supplies.
Both of these sales tax holidays provide clear benefits not just to individuals, but also to our communities. The entire state is lifted up when our schoolchildren – our next generation of leaders and doers – are properly supplied and ready to learn. Likewise, it’s to everyone’s advantage when people have the necessary tools to weather storms. If households can sustain themselves after a hurricane blows through, it conserves emergency resources and protects first responders from avoidable risks, advancing the collective interests of all Alabamians.
The proposed gun sales tax holiday brings no such benefit. At best, it’s a gratuitous perk to firearm enthusiasts that skims a little money off the top of the Education Trust Fund, the recipient of sales tax revenue. At worst, it could lead to more gun-related deaths. That terrible prospect should make legislators pause and think carefully instead of relying on conservative instinct.
Even if this bill’s honest-to-goodness only goals are to help families bond and to sustain our wilderness culture, unintended consequences are still consequences.
The bill now sits with the Senate, where it awaits committee action.
There are fewer than 10 days left in the 2026 regular legislative session. Perhaps this bill will shrivel up and die in committee while the Senate takes up more important matters. One can hope.
As Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said during the debate over this bill on the House floor: “I don’t want to pass policy that can end up taking somebody’s life.”
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Catherine Dorrough