KITZMAN AUTHORS FIREARM BILL
District 85 State Representative Stan Kitzman announced that he has authored House Bill 3750.
The bill would exempt firearms and ammunition, as well as components of a firearm from sales tax.
Representative Kitzman said that he believes it is a violation of the Second Amendment to tax something intergral to exercising one’s rights.
House Bill 3750 would also continue to exempt firearm accessories and safety equipment from sales tax, including gun lock boxes, safety training manuals, and other items used in conjunction with a firearm.
Kitzman said West Virginia passed a similar bill in 2021, and that five other states don’t tax firearms.
He added that he feels now is the time for Texans to stand up for their Constitutional Rights.
Other recent bills co-authored by Kitzman include HB 20, expanding border protections, HB 1075, protecting Texas from foreign agricultural interests, and HB 1581, enhancing the penalty for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury.
The single most important thing that can be done quickly to protect our children is to abolish “gun free zones”. Period. The sad part is that this good legislation and the other priorities of the Texas RNC will not get voted on because Dade Phelan has appointed Democrat committee chairmen that keep the bills in committee.
So since last December, 18, 19, and 20-year-olds can legally carry a handgun in Texas; if your wish came/comes true and no gun free zones existed, then those teens could carry the gun inside a school. Does that make you think that anyone would be (or feel) safe? As well, guns would no longer be prohibited in courtrooms. Would you like to sit on a jury in a high-profile criminal case, render a verdict, and know that half of the parties there (and one side is going to be on the losing side, and likely be angered) are sitting in the courtroom and all have firearms? Do you think that the court security personnel would like to stand on the side all day knowing that the entire group of spectators who came to witness the trial might be armed? Would you like to be a teacher in a school and tell an 18 or 19-year-old that they have to complete an assignment, but you realize that if they get angered, they may take out a gun and start shooting? Would you feel comfortable working at a hospital emergency room when a drug dealer was brought in with a gunshot wound and you look out into the waiting room and there’s 15 or 20 of his followers milling around, and you know all of those have guns? The gun free zones were put into place to protect everyone there. To take those away would only require more security, more vigilance, and more of everyone’s attention, rather than focusing on what needs to be done in that school, in that courtroom, or in that hospital. The best thing that could be done would be to enforce the laws and penalties for caring firearms illegally. From my calculations, about 7% of the arrest stories related on this website relate that a person was carrying a firearm illegally; if one were to follow that person through the court system, it’s my guess that very little would be done to him or her, even though the law gives perfect direction of what the punishment could be. Even the constitutional carry bill that passed a year and a half ago in Texas (HB1927) states that if a person is caught caring a firearm illegally, there is a fairly stiff minimum penalty — find that and read it. However, it can be watered down to where it may not even be taken into account. It seems as though the judges and courts have a pretty wide leeway of what they can do, except they’re just not doing it to the fullest extent of the law. I would prefer to fix that end of the problem.
This is good stuff. You’ll have my vote again Rep. Kitzman.
“Representative Kitzman said that he believes it is a violation of the Second Amendment to tax something intergral to exercising one’s rights.” If that’s his position from a legal standpoint and a constitutional scholar standpoint, then why don’t we get rid of the sales tax on vehicles, because they’re providing me with ‘liberty’ to do what I want and need to do, and if I buy a new one, it might allow me the ‘pursuit of happiness’. The Republican Party of Texas 2022 platform document says that they want to repeal the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits felons from owning firearms; the Second Amendment does no such thing and actually then would allow felons to legally own firearms if it is to be universally applied to all citizens. The Republican Party of Texas would also like to abolish gun-free zones, like schools; that would mean that any 18-year-old with a gun could then take it to school. Maybe the state of Texas needs to abolish all sales taxes and all property taxes and let the government get along as best it can…
We’re also endowed by our Creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Declaration of Independence). Better not tax food, water, shelter, entertainment, etc, since you don’t believe in taxing things integral to exercising rights. Exercising a freedom of speech and the press (1st Amendment) would suggest not taxing reporter’s salaries, news station’s costs or profits, or my purchase of a newspaper or news site subscription. Right to counsel (6th amendment) would suggest not taxing legal fees or defense lawyers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of fewer taxes in any and all cases. But don’t pretend this is championing civil rights and not just culling easy political points while appeasing some gun lobbyist.