PHOENIX — State lawmakers are pushing ahead with a plan to make guns slightly more affordable and, in the words of one lobbyist, not force people to choose between buying groceries and buying a gun.
On a 6-4 vote, with only Republicans in favor, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday agreed to exempt the sales of firearms, ammunition and “firearm safety equipment” from the state and local sales taxes.
Dave Kopp, lobbyist for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, testified that House Bill 2166 is consistent with — and being added to — a list of other exemptions from sales taxes for health and safety products.
“We firmly believe that guns are among those,” he said.
That didn’t wash with Sen. Sean Bowie, D-Phoenix.
He pointed out, for example, that the state taxes feminine hygiene products. Ditto, he said, for parents who are legally required to obtain child safety seats for their vehicles.
Kopp responded he would support exempting those, too.
Bowie said the other reason lawmakers provide tax breaks is for economic development purposes, like attracting more jobs and investment.
“For me, it seems the firearms industry is doing pretty well right now,” he said.
Kopp did not dispute that. But he said that’s looking at the issue the wrong way.
“I do believe that this is not geared towards helping the firearms industry per se, but helping the firearms industry customers,” Kopp said.
Bowie questioned whether there are people who are not purchasing firearms because of the state’s 5.6% sales tax and the various local taxes.
“I doubt it,” Kopp conceded. “But if it becomes a situation where you need to buy a gun or you need to buy groceries, that sales tax could make all the difference.”
That theme was echoed by Cheryl Todd. She is the Arizona coordinator for the DC Project, an organization of women that advocates for gun rights.
“As the person who is called on to balance my family’s budget and stretch my family’s dollars as far as possible, a bill like this will go a long way in not just my family but especially in lower-income families and those hit hardest by our ever-shrinking purchasing power that inflation is having on our dollars,” she said.
And Todd said she considers firearms and related equipment “life-saving tools of self-defense.”
“It is well-documented that at least 2.5 million times each year lives are saved by responsibly armed citizens with these tools,” she said.
There is some evidence, not produced by the firearms industry and its supporters, to back that up. That includes a 2013 study published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that indicates a range of anywhere from 60,000 to 2.5 million defense gun uses each year.
But the measure, which now goes to the full Senate, is not the same as what Rep. Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix, was able to shepherd through the House.
That version sought to create an absolute carve-out from sales taxes for all weapons. But Kaiser said some Republican senators said they would support an exemption only for the sale of used guns and equipment sold in retail stores.
The exemption for safety equipment includes devices that when installed on a gun prevents it from firing without first being deactivated. It also would cover new electronic interlocks that allow the weapon to be fired only by someone who is authorized to operate it.
There also would be no sales tax on gun safes and other lock boxes designed to allow access only through things like a key, a combination lock or a thumb print.
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