California Excise Tax on Guns, Ammo Survives Legal Challenge

California’s excise tax on manufacturers and dealers of firearms and ammunition doesn’t meaningfully constrain the individual rights protected by the US Constitution’s Second Amendment, a state trial court ruled.

Commercial retailers aren’t “people” within the meaning of the amendment because “there is no right to sell a firearm unconnected to the rights to keep and bear arms,” Judge Christopher E. Krueger wrote for the California Superior Court, Sacramento County, in a Monday tentative ruling.

California and Colorado’s 2024 firearms taxes have established a model that other states are considering adopting. So far none of the lawsuits seeking to challenge ...