Proposed excise tax on firearms would fund shock trauma center, other entities

It was three years ago Thursday that Natalie Vinski Ibrahim and her 4-year-old son were at a playground near her Howard County home when they were struck by stray bullets from a nearby shooting.

Her son had bullet fragments removed from his arm and Vinski Ibrahim still has a bullet in her leg.  She continues to deal with the mental trauma and the physical therapy from that day. It’s why Vinski Ibrahim supports legislation that would put an 11% state excise tax on firearms sold in Maryland by federally licensed dealers.

“I feel it’s the least that can be done to help remediate and mitigate the harms that firearms too often cause in our Maryland communities,” said Vinski Ibrahim, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action in Howard County, in an interview after her testimony Thursday to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Del. Bernice Mireku-North (D-Montgomery), who sponsored similar legislation last year, said gun violence costs the state an estimated $10.5 billion a year, with nearly $384 million coming from taxpayers. Mireku-North, whose father is a gun-violence survivor, said money raised by her bill would go toward funding gun violence treatment and prevention programs and centers

“What I have come to realize is that it really requires the healing of the community to bring people together when it comes to dealing with the trauma of gun violence,” Mireku-North told her colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee.

But opponents said gun retailers already pay a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition, at 10% on the sales price of pistols and revolvers and 11% on sales of other portable weapons. They said Mireku-North’s bill would target “responsible gun owners.”

“I have to ask, are the bill sponsors trying to make it too expensive for citizens to buy firearms? This could be perceived as Maryland’s new imposition of a sin tax equating a core constitutional freedom with gambling and drug use,” said Cathy Wright, a member of the Maryland State & Rifle Pistol Association board. “You are essentially raising the price of self-defense out of the reach for many Marylanders.”

The bill, again called the Comprehensive Community Safety Funding Act, would direct funding to six programs and centers:

• 4% to the University of Maryland Medical System’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center;
• 4% to the Maryland Trauma Physician Services;
• 20% for Coordinated Community Supports Partnership that’s under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan;
• 26% to the Maryland Violence Intervention and Prevention within the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy;
• 20% to the Survivors of Homicide Victims grant, also housed in the crime prevention office; and
• 26% to the Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention housed in the Maryland Department of Health.

While Mireku-North’s bill last year would have taxed ammunition as well as weapons, this year’s bill just targets guns. According to the bill, the tax on a “large retailer” would begin July 1, 2027, and expand a year later to include any other federally licensed firearms dealer.

If a firearms dealer is located in another state but has sales in Maryland, the tax would only apply if revenue exceeds $100,000 or the business completed at least 200 transactions in the state.

The bill’s fiscal note estimates the bill would generate about $15 million annually starting in fiscal 2028 and increase to $16.2 million per year starting in fiscal year 2030. It also said state expenditures would increase by an estimated $2.2 million.

But Mark Pennak, president of the gun-rights organization Maryland Shall Issue, said his group would take the bill to court if it passes, just as he threatened with last year’s bill.

“This body may not impose an excise tax on a constitutional right,” Pennak, an attorney, told the committee. “If you do, it will be challenged in court and we will likely prevail.”