US Supreme Court: Gun Licensing Fees Are Unconstitutional

[color of law]

US Supreme Court: Gun Licensing Fees Are Unconstitutional

While I am not an attorney and cannot give formal legal advice, a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Murdock v. Pennsylvania, may give Second Amendment–supporters an overwhelming legal weapon with which to destroy every single firearm ownership ...

www.americanthinker.com

Would this not apply to fees charged for a license to conceal carry, and in some states to open carry?

And wouldn't this apply to a FFL charging a fee to transfer a firearm between two private parties as Biden is trying to force, (so called gun show loophole)?

 

[bc.cruiser]

Narrowly answered: The FFL is not the State, nor an actor thereof; he is a business, and is providing a service. As a 'tax', the transfer fee would need to be uniform for all businesses within a state. I suppose an argument may be made that since guns from an outside jurisdiction must be transferred by a FFL, that it is de facto a tax.

 

[color of law]

Narrowly answered: The FFL is not the State, nor an actor thereof; he is a business, and is providing a service. As a 'tax', the transfer fee would need to be uniform for all businesses within a state. I suppose an argument may be made that since guns from an outside jurisdiction must be transferred by a FFL, that it is de facto a tax.

Courts usually held that fines and fees were not taxes. But that went by the wayside when Roberts in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012) ruled a fine is a tax.

The reasons the Court in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20, 36–37 (1922), held that what was called a “tax” there was a penalty support the conclusion that what is called a “penalty” here may be viewed as a tax. Congress could not, for example, expand its authority to impose criminal fines by creating strict liability offenses enforced by the IRS rather than the FBI. But the fact the exaction here is paid like a tax, to the agency that collects taxes—rather than, for example, exacted by Department of Labor inspectors after ferreting out willful malfeasance—suggests that this exaction may be viewed as a tax.

The regulation of guns fall under the IRS. And IRS collects taxes. An FFL is an agent of the government.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[solus]

Organization, Mission and Functions Manual

www.justice.gov

[org chart] https://www.justice.gov/file/1047436/download

quote:
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) was established as a separate component within the Department of Justice pursuant to Title XI of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, on January 17, 2003. Unquote

Organization, Mission and Functions Manual: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

www.justice.gov

 

[color of law]

Title 26. INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, Subtitle D. Miscellaneous Excise Taxes, Chapter 32. MANUFACTURERS EXCISE TAXES, Subchapter D. Recreational Equipment, Part III. FIREARMS Section 4181. Imposition of tax.

26 U.S. Code § 4181. Imposition of tax
There is hereby imposed upon the sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of the following articles a tax equivalent to the specified percent of the price for which so sold:
Articles taxable at 10 percent—
Pistols.
Revolvers.
Articles taxable at 11 percent—
Firearms (other than pistols and revolvers).
Shells, and cartridges.

26 U.S. Code § 4182. Exemptions
(a) Machine guns and short barrelled firearms
The tax imposed by section 4181 shall not apply to any firearm on which the tax provided by section 5811 has been paid.

Title 26. INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, Subtitle E. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes, Chapter 53. MACHINE GUNS, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND CERTAIN OTHER FIREARMS, Subchapter A. Taxes Part I. SPECIAL (OCCUPATIONAL) TAXES……………..

And it goes on and on and on under the Internal Revenue Code.

Even though the ATF was moved under the Justice Department doesn’t mean they don’t still enforce the laws under the Internal Revenue Code. The fact is they do.

 

[Firearms Iinstuctor]

And in a perfect world.