Yahoo News
The National Rifle Association
and other gun rights groups sued Seattle on Monday over a new tax on
firearms and ammunition sales, arguing the city had violated a
Washington state law barring municipalities from enacting local firearms
regulations.
Earlier
this month, Seattle City Council unanimously approved a "gun violence
tax" on sellers of firearms and ammunition, directing proceeds toward
violence prevention programs and research beginning in January. A
companion measure requires gun owners to report cases of lost and stolen
firearms to police.
"The
Seattle ordinance is nothing but a 'poll tax' on the Second Amendment
and an effort to drive Seattle's firearms retailers out of business,"
said National Shooting Sports Foundation General Counsel Lawrence Keane,
a plaintiff.
The
lawsuit, filed on Monday in King County Superior Court, argues that
Washington state law bars municipalities from creating their own gun
regulations, the NRA said.
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