No stopping gun sales (and ammo, too)

With firearms and ammunition sales continuing to streak toward space so too are the taxes that are collected on them.

In the forth calendar quarter of 2008 the excise taxes on firearms and ammunition rose to $98.1 million. That's a 31.3 percent increase over the same period in 2007, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

With handguns alone, collection of the excise tax was $27.6 million - up just over 70percent.

Ammunition excise tax collections jumped to $35.5 million, a 31.1 percent increase.

In all for 2008, a total of $345.2 million was collected in excise taxes. That's a nearly 14 percent rise over 2007 receipts of $303.2 million.

Nor will this money go into the federal government's general treasury to be squandered. Nope, the money is specifically ear-marked for federal and state wildlife management and hunter education purposes.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com