March
15, 2005--High profile shootings always have predictable results:
grieving families, relentless media attention, and grandstanding
politicians.
Maine state Representative Deborah Pelletier-Simpson
(D-Auburn) has stepped up to fill the role of the latter.
Rep. Pelletier-Simpson has sponsored a
bill which would impose a 7% tax on guns and ammunition, to provide
funding for courthouse security across the state.
Recent shootings at courthouses in Georgia
and Illinois prompted Rep. Simpson to take the iniative.
"I've been in the Legislature for
five years, and I've listened to two different chief justices
say this is a problem," she told the Portland Press. "For
five years we've done nothing, and we've been very lucky. I feel
like we've been living on borrowed time."
While state court officials acknowledge
that they already have the screening equipment necessary to prevent
people from smuggling knives or guns into courtrooms, they say
they lack funding for the personnel to staff the equipment.
Supporters of the bill estimate the 7%
gun and ammunition tax would raise roughly $50,000 a year.
Acknowledging that $50,000 would not be
enough to pay for staffing, Cathie Whittenburg, executive director
of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, said, "But it
would be a good start."
If a 7% tax is a "good start,"
the question then becomes what taxation rate is a reasonable end
goal for Ms. Whittenburg. Twenty percent? Fifty percent?
Rep. Pelletier-Simpson says a gun tax
makes sense. "The fear in the courts is firearms, so if it's
firearms, let's tax that," she said.
Thus, Pelletier-Simpson's bill might well
create the nation's first "fear tax."
Apparently lost on Rep. Pelletier-Simpson
is that fact that--until guns grow arms, legs and brains--it is
criminals who are using weapons in courtrooms.
Perhaps Ms. Pelletier-Simpson might reconsider
her bill and instead impose a tax on criminals.
Or grandstanding politicians.
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