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Last week, the First District Appellate Court of Illinois heard
oral arguments in the lawsuit gun rights advocate Todd
Vandermyde and others brought against Cook County. The $25 tax
on firearms purchases and 1 to 5 cent tax per cartridge of
ammunition has been in place since 2012, but was struck down by
the Illinois Supreme Court in 2021.
“[W]here a tax classification directly bears on a fundamental
right, the government must establish that the tax classification
is substantially related to the object of the legislation,” the
Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2021. “Under that
level of scrutiny, the firearm and ammunition tax ordinances
violate the uniformity clause.”
“Per the amendment, the revenue generated from the amended
firearm and ammunition tax will be directed to the Special
Purpose Fund for Equity and Inclusion to directly fund the
Justice Advisory Council’s gun violence prevention programs as
well as operations and programs aimed at reducing gun violence,”
a spokesman for Cook County said in 2021.
Representing the plaintiffs last week in Chicago, attorney Kate
Hardiman said the issue is about how the Second Amendment right
to keep and bear arms “shall not be infringed.”
“Infringe means not as the county argues to destroy but rather
to hinder. So any tax hinders the exercise of her Second
Amendment rights because it makes that right more expensive to
exercise,” Hardiman said.
Representing Cook County, attorney Jessica Wasserman argued that
plaintiffs haven’t made their case.
“Plaintiffs argue that the taxes must infringe on their ability
to keep and bear arms simply because they couldn’t have
purchased their desired weapons if they hadn’t paid the taxes,”
Wasserman said. “But that’s also true for an ordinary sales tax
and allowing a purchase price to be charged at all.”
Hardiman countered that during oral arguments last week.
“If this tax is OK, the right to counsel can be taxed, the right
to any other constitutional right that this court favors can be
taxed as well,” she said.
The appeals court took the issue under advisement.
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