Thread: $340 Tax On Each Of Your Guns?

SAF FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit with New York State Rifle & Pistol Association and five NYC residents against Mayor Bloomberg and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, challenging the oppressive New York City gun permit fee.

The fee is an excessive barrier to liberty that burdens the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

New York City charges residents $340 for a permit to keep a handgun in their homes, and an additional charge of $94.25 for a fingerprint check!

Under State Law, the maximum fee for a handgun license is TEN DOLLARS... but the law exempts New York City.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, enemy of Second Amendment freedoms, is therefore using this loophole to charge an exorbitant fee that discourages city residents from obtaining a handgun permit.

The fee is, in essence, a poll tax on the right to keep and bear arms. It discourages city residents from exercising their civil rights while violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

This is a bigoted action against poor people the same way the poll tax effort years ago was a way to prevent poor people from exercising their right to vote.

Poll taxes were intended to marginalize black Americans, and the poor, from voting. In 1966, the Supreme Court declared that poll taxes in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment---and we are certain this onerous fee is a violation, as well---because it is intended to marginalize the rights of law-abiding citizens to purchase firearms and keep them in their homes. The $340 also turns a protected Constitutional right into a privilege for the rich and well-connected.

The 24th Amendment prevents States from imposing a voting fee. Our lawsuit, like the 24th Amendment, will make sure we prevent a billionaire like Bloomberg from saying that only people who can afford to pay a $340 permit fee can own a gun.

We must stop Mayor Bloomberg and NY City NOW, before cities like yours decide to copy them and impose the $340 fee on you.

The 24th Amendment to the Constitution states:

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

If we allow this fee to stand as a barrier against one of our Constitutional freedoms, what are we going to allow them to charge us for next? Will we let them charge us for free speech? Will we let them charge us to freely assemble? Will we let them charge us to worship as we please?

What kind of fees will we incur for our liberties?

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment's guarantee of an individual's right to bear arms applies to state and local gun-control laws, and it has ruled previously that the Second Amendment is protected under federal law.

Bloomberg is playing fast and loose with the rules, trying to restrict Second Amendment rights guaranteed under our Constitution and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court!

"For decades the City has charged its residents exorbitant license fees that far exceed the fees charged by other states and cities that impose them," said attorney David Jensen, who is representing the plaintiffs. "The effect of this is to force a punitive tax on New York City citizens who choose to own firearms in compliance with the law. But people have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and the City cannot simply impose fees for the sake of burdening law-abiding gun owners."

Mayor Bloomberg is essentially taxing the fundamental right to defend one's self in his or her own home. Bloomberg is Co-Chair Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, which works to make our nation's gun laws worse.

New York is one of only two states that require a permit just to keep a handgun in one's own home. The city's 'residence premises' handgun license amounts to a charge of more than $100 annually, each and every year, to keep a handgun in one's home, which is ridiculous.

On behalf of YOU and thousands of other gun owners, the Second Amendment Foundation is working hard to defend your gun rights. We cannot rest until we know that others are WORKING HARD on behalf of our right for our guns to defend our families.

The SAF won't let New York City take away the rights of its citizens by enacting burdensome regulations. Nor will we allow liberals in Congress, the Obama Administration or any state legislature attack the Second Amendment by limiting or banning gun ownership.

This "backdoor" regulation is the kind of thing we are going to see more and more of as the anti-gun lobby and their friends in the Obama administration chip away at our rights, little by little.

It will not happen on our watch.

Opponents of the Second Amendment are using the shooting of Gabby Giffords by a madman as a reason to restrict, and eliminate, the right of American citizens to own firearms. Of course our thoughts go out to Rep. Giffords for her complete recovery, but we must continue to remind all Americans that this was done by a mentally-deranged person---not a patriotic gun-owner such as yourself. Yet, law-abiding citizens are going to end up paying the price for this national tragedy if Obama and Bloomberg have their way.

We must fight back against this kind of unconstitutional control. I hope I can count on your support.

Respectfully,

Alan M. Gottlieb
Chairman
Second Amendment Foundation

received by e-mail from SAF on Wed, Apr 6, 2011 7:16 pm

Second Amendment Foundation
12500 NE 10th Place, Bellevue, WA 98005

Yeah like THAT'S gonna stop criminals from getting hold of guns.

City of New York exorbitant gun licensing fees

SAF files amended Bloomberg complaint with additional plaintiffs

- Second Amendment Foundation
Wednesday, April 6, 2011

BELLEVUE, WA - The Second Amendment Foundation announced this morning that it has filed an amended complaint in federal district court against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City of New York over exorbitant gun licensing fees, adding two additional plaintiffs who came forward asking to be part of the legal action.

SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said with these additional plaintiffs, there are now seven private citizens who have joined SAF and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association in the lawsuit.

“We are being overwhelmed with calls following yesterday’s announcement about the lawsuit,â€

NYC Gun Owners Required To Pay Hundreds Of Dollars Annually, Lawsuit Claims



April 7, 2011
by Personal Liberty News Desk

Two gun rights groups and several New York City residents have filed a Federal lawsuit against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, alleging that the city's $340 fee for a handgun permit is "excessive."

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association filed the civil rights lawsuit on April 5. They were joined by five NYC residents.

SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said that the maximum fee for issuing a New York State handgun license is $10, but the measure exempts residents living in the Big Apple. Thus, the city can name its own price. He states that Bloomberg charges residents $340 to obtain the permit and more than $100 per year to keep the handgun in their homes.

The lawsuit claims that the annual fee "impermissibly burdens the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms," as well as violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

"Mayor Bloomberg is essentially taxing the fundamental right to defend one's self in his or her own home," said Gottlieb. "We cannot think of anything more egregious than perpetuating a fee structure that puts a financial obstacle in the way of citizens who want to protect their homes and families."

New York is one of only two States that requires residents to have a permit in order to keep a handgun at home, Gottlieb added.

http://www.personalliberty.com/news/nyc ... 04_07_PLA_[P02998086]&rrid=238434262