Tacoma adds $25 fee on each gun sold

November 12, 2019 / 8:32 am

caption: People fish from a pier in Commencement Bay, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, in Tacoma, Wash. Following a period of rain earlier in the week, the sun — and a little fog — made an appearance Thursday.

The City of Tacoma has imposed a fee on gun sales.

The council voted 8-0 on Tuesday night to adopt the same gun and ammunition tax that Seattle has.

The council had debated for weeks whether to add a $25 fee to each gun sold, and at least $0.02 - $0.05 for each round of ammo.

Its sponsors want to use the money for gun violence prevention, and for programs to help heal a community that's seen an uptick in homicides this year.

Gun store owners have opposed these type of taxes, which were previously in place in just Seattle and a handful of other U.S. jurisdictions.

Gun rights advocates tried to stop Seattle's tax from going into effect, but the state supreme court ruled it could remain on the books.

Tacoma's mayor says it's intended to help address some of the harm that guns can do to a community.

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Paige Browning
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Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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