Only One State Will Have a Gun-Related Initiative on the Ballot This Fall
Colorado: The only state with a gun-related initiative on the ballot
The only successful initiative this cycle wasn’t put forward by citizens, but by lawmakers.
In Colorado, certain increases to state revenue must go before voters after passing the state Legislature. Democratic Governor Jared Polis signed a measure in June that would impose a 6.5 percent tax on the manufacture and retail sale of guns and ammunition, to be paid by gunmakers and dealers. The measure needs a simple majority of voters to become law.
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It is projected to bring in $39 million a year, to be earmarked for crime victim programs and mental health services. “We want a way to sustain these services,” Colorado State Senator Janet Buckner, a Democrat, said in arguing for the measure. “These are not small things — these are things that save lives.”
Gunmakers and dealers are already subject to a federal tax of 10 percent on handguns and 11 percent on long guns and ammunition. California is the only state with a separate tax on guns, enacted last year.
A separate Colorado initiative would have prevented law enforcement from denying marijuana users permits to carry concealed guns, but the sponsors failed to gather enough signatures by the August 5 deadline.
https://www.thetrace.org/2024/09/gun-policy-ballot-initiative-state/