Biden’s gun registration tax could cost firearms owners billions

By Jake Dima

President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed firearm tax could cost gun owners upwards of $30 billion to keep the weapons they already possess, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

Biden plans to mandate both taxation and registration of so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines under the National Firearms Act (NFA), which requires a $200 fee per item, according to the former vice president’s campaign website. Around 20 million rifles and 150 million magazines would be taxable, leading to a total cost to U.S. gun owners of over $34 billion, according to the Free Beacon.

The president-elect plans to end the sale of “assault weapons” altogether and has proposed a ban on magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, his campaign website reads. Anyone already in possession of these items would either have to pay the fee or surrender the weapons to the government to stay within the bounds of the law, according to the webpage.

Americans bought a record 17 million guns so far in 2020 amid the early days of the pandemic and widespread unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, The Guardian reported in late October.

Support for more stringent gun control has plummeted during the buying surge to the lowest level since 2016, according to a Monday Gallup poll. Fifty-seven percent of respondents indicated that they wanted to see more gun laws in the U.S., which is down sharply from the 64% of people who said the same in 2019.

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5 thoughts on “Biden’s gun registration tax could cost firearms owners billions

  1. Don’t worry hunters, Joe isn’t after your hunting rifles. Not until the rename them ‘Sniper Rifles’.

  2. Why aren’t people talking about this as an unconstitutional law?

    Me, I’ll gladly give up or register weapons after (1) they collect all in the hands of criminals and make sure they will never have the opportunity to use them against the innocent, and (2) all the politicians with armed protection details give them up and live like us fiefs (which is what the liberals think we are).

  3. Stores such as Bass Pro. Runnings (haven’t been to the Kittery Trading Post in ME) for instance, have virtually empty shelves. In upper NH, Errol, LL Cote (like Bass Pro) another. I can buy a gun at Bass Pro in Alabama as there’s a bass Pro in NH..The buying process is strict, anywhere.

    This has been the result of Obama, Biden, Clinton and the Dems in any state & DC.

  4. Let’s see if we have this right –

    The same people demanding the police be de-funded, and
    The same people releasing violent felons from prison due to Covid, and
    The same people refusing to prosecute violent arsonists, looters and murderers

    Expect the rest of us to stand by passively while they remove our Constitutional rights
    and means of self-defense?

    Good luck with that.

  5. Not so fast Tanto;putting Biden’s plan into action would be a logistical nightmare.

    The NSSF has just released its Firearm Production Report for 2020. Including manufacturing data from 2018 and 2019, the report breaks down how many of each type of firearm was manufactured and imported, and approximately how many are in civilian possession.

    The highlights:

    In 2018, 11.4 million total firearms were produced or imported in the United States (less exported firearms).
    Approximately one-half (48%) of all rifles produced and imported (less exports) in 2018 were Modern Sporting Rifles.
    Since 1990, there are an estimated 19.8 million Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation today.
    An interim 2019 estimate showed a total of 6 million total firearms were produced in the United States. Of those, 3.6 million were pistols and revolvers, 2 million were rifles and 480,000 were shotguns. Those are interim figures that will be updated when complete reports become available from the ATF.
    In 2019, there were approximately 3.3 million firearms imported into the United States which included 2.3 million pistols and revolvers, 301,000 rifles and 678,000 shotguns.
    From 1991 to 2019, nearly 214 million firearms have been made available to the U.S. market.
    According to reports such as: ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States, ATF AFMER and Congressional Research Service data, there are an estimated 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the United States.
    There are approximately 71.2 million pistol magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, and 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds in circulation.
    Firearm and ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing over $3.9 billion in goods shipped in 2018. An estimated 8.7 billion rounds of all calibers and gauges were production. NSSF web site https://www.nssf.org

    I come up with 172-Million Reasons Why Biden’s Gun Ban Is Unworkable,to name but a couple.

    The biggest reason, of course, is that Joe Biden’s plans to ban and “buyback” legally-purchased firearms and ammunition magazines is that would violate the Constitution.

    The latest figures demonstrate that all of the guns and magazines that Biden is hoping to ban are clearly in common use by millions of Americans for a variety of lawful purposes, and squarely fall under the protections offered by the Second Amendment.

    Set aside the constitutional issues with Biden’s desire to criminalize the possession of commonly-owned rifles and magazines for the moment, though, and just focus on the logistics of his would-be ban.

    According to newly-released figures from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Biden’s ban would encompass well over 170-million items that would either have to be turned over to the government or registered under the National Firearms Act.

    Since 1990, there are an estimated 19.8 million Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation today.
    There are approximately 71.2 million pistol magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, and 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds in circulation.

    Under Biden’s proposed gun and magazine ban, every one of these guns and magazines would be prohibited by federal law, and possession of an unregistered rifle or “large capacity” magazine would be subject to a violation of the National Firearms Act. Possession of an unregistered NFA item is punishable by ten years in prison or a $250,000 fine, so we’re talking about turning more than 170-million items that are currently in the lawful possession of tens of millions of gun owners into illicit substances that could land them in the a federal penitentiary for a decade.

    Putting Biden’s plan into action would be a logistical nightmare, however. Biden hasn’t said how much money his compensated confiscation efforts would pay for each firearm or magazine turned in, but at $500 per gun and $10 per magazine, the cost alone would be more than $11-billion.

    Obviously, a lot of Americans aren’t going to hand over their guns and magazines. Let’s say half of the current owners of these items decide instead that they’re going to register their rifles and various magazines with the government under the National Firearms Act. How exactly is the ATF going to deal with the flood of applications?

    In 2016, the agency processed about 2.5-million NFA forms. If just half of the guns and magazines that fall under Biden’s proposed ban were to be registered with the ATF, they’d be faced with an avalanche of 86-million forms to process. It would take years to clear out the backlog, and in the meantime, what happens to those gun owners who haven’t been yet been approved to maintain possession of their guns and magazines when the ban would take effect?

    There’s another logistical nightmare looming for gun-banners if they try to put Biden’s ban into effect. According to Biden himself, owners of “high capacity” magazines would be able to register them under the NFA, but he never explains how that would be possible. Magazines aren’t serialized, and there’s no real way to identify a particular magazine that would make it possible to register one.

    According to Politifact, Biden’s team says they haven’t quite worked out the details.

    Never under estimate the ability of government bureaucracy to bungle even a simplistic program, which this one would not considered simplistic to any degree.

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