Sales tax break for guns, ammo and accessories in Kansas could weaken firearm safety, critics say
Guns are shown at Caso’s Gun-A-Rama in Jersey City, New Jersey, which has been open since 1967. (Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Monitor)
TOPEKA — A proposed sales tax break for Kansas gun owners could undermine gun safety goals, according to some opponents, and cut millions in state revenue if passed.
Senate Bill 209 would eliminate the sales taxes on firearms, ammunition, gun accessories, gun safes and safety devices, which is estimated to draw down annual state revenues by — and save gun owners — at least $10 million in its first year.
The bill simultaneously incentivizes firearms and safety equipment purchases, benefitting Kansas’ $167 million firearms industry but neglecting to follow other states that have elected to exempt only safety devices to encourage safe firearm use and storage.
States have typically favored education over regulation when it comes to safe gun storage, but several states — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia and Washington — offer tax breaks on safe storage purchases. Tennessee lawmakers in 2016 passed a one-year sales tax exemption for gun lock, gun safe and other safety device purchases.
Carla Oppenheimer, a private citizen who wrote to the Senate tax committee in opposition to the bill, said she feared gun owners would take advantage of the tax break to buy more firearms and ammo instead of improving home safety by investing in quality gun safes. She said the bill “undermines the very safety goal the proposal appears to promote.”
“Instead, it provides a broad tax exemption that primarily benefits the firearms industry while weakening the intended safety incentive,” she said.
She suggested in its place a tax relief policy limited to gun safes and secure storage devices, which would “directly prioritize secure storage practices and send a strong message that responsible gun ownership includes protecting children, families and communities from preventable harm.”
Sen. Joe Claeys, a Wichita Republican, introduced the bill in February, but neither he nor anyone else testified during the March 11 hearing before the Senate tax committee.
Spencer Duncan, mayor of Topeka and government affairs director for the League of Kansas Municipalities, requested in writing that the committee add a five-year sunset to the bill so the Legislature could review the exemption’s effectiveness.
“This should be standard policy for the Legislature on all tax exemptions,” Duncan wrote.
The league of municipalities didn’t take a position on the intent or merits behind the policy, Duncan said.
“Rather, we emphasize the expected reduction in local revenue attributable to expanding property tax exemptions and the ongoing concern about tax base erosion and burden shifting,” he said.
The bill, which hasn’t advanced out of committee, is one of a slate of tax relief proposals making its way through the Legislature that chip away at the state’s revenue.
The Kansas Department of Revenue estimated that exempting firearms and associated equipment from sales taxes would decrease state revenue by $10 million in fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, and $11 million in fiscal year 2027.
“That’s a lot of school lunches,” said Dave Webster, a private citizen who wrote to the committee in opposition to the bill.
He said a tax break for firearm owners, incentivizing further gun purchases, is a luxury.
“We need to provide necessities first,” Webster said.
The league of municipalities and the Kansas Association of Counties said the bill, if passed, could hurt local sales tax collections, which fund local governments and services.