The state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation with near-unanimous support that would waive the sales tax on the purchase of gun safes and other firearm safety mechanisms.
Senate Bill 340 would add “firearm safe” and “firearm safety device” to the list of products where purchasers are not charged sales taxes. It passed 46-1, with only state Sen. Colton Moore, a Trenton Republican, voting against the bill.
Some Republicans have softened on the idea pushed by gun control advocates of encouraging firearms owners to use gun safes and other safety accessories as a way to keep the weapons out of children’s hands. Unintentional injury, often by gunfire, is the leading cause of death among children up to age 14, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta Republican, said she filed the bill out of safety concerns for children.
“This bill is simply an incentive for lawful gun owners to purchase safe storage devices, including firearm safes and firearm safety devices, such as trigger locks, by exempting them from Georgia sales tax,” Kirkpatrick said.
If passed, the exemption would save Georgia consumers an estimated $1.6 million in sales tax.
Senators last week approved Senate Bill 344, which would create a five-day sales tax holiday to coincide with the beginning of deer hunting season in October on all firearms, ammunition and other gun accessories — including safes. The vote on that bill was more contentious, passing on a party-line vote with Republicans supporting the measure.
Moore opposed the bill because he wants the sales tax holiday established by SB 344 to be in place year-round and sought to amend Kirkpatrick’s legislation.
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Jason Anavitarte of Dallas said that bill is designed to increase interest in hunting to keep the deer population under control. Democrats called the bill a political stunt.
Kirkpatrick said the bills wouldn’t conflict if both pass and become law because her proposal applies year-round.
SB 340 passed the Senate the same day that Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Elena Parent of Atlanta spoke about the accidental death of a 3-year-old DeKalb County boy who shot himself in the face with an unsecured gun over the weekend.
Though Parent supported Kirkpatrick’s bill, she said more needs to be done. Last year she filed Senate Bill 75, which would make it a crime to leave a firearm accessible to a child, but she said it has yet to get a hearing.
“I’m highlighting this because, in this Legislature, we have the power to do good,” she said. “Every day that we don’t discuss the things that we could be doing on gun safety we are failing children.”
SB 340 will now be considered by the House, where state Rep. Mark Newton, an Augusta Republican, has filed similar legislation. House Bill 971 would offer Georgians who purchase a gun safe or a gun safety course a tax credit up to $300 each year.
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