Just in time for the NRA's annual convention in Nashville
Record gun sales and an insatiable demand for ammunition have delivered an unintended gift to the arch enemy of many firearms enthusiasts: the federal government. The Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau collects a 10 percent tax on ammo sales and a roughly 10 percent tax on gun sales. In both cases, the government taxes the manufacturers, not the retailers. Data provided to Vocativ from the agency shows how the surge in weapons-buying during the Obama administration has generated unprecedented levels of revenue for federal coffers. The money is later earmarked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Federal taxes on guns and ammo reached a high of $875 million in 2013, the year following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. The deadly spree, which left 27 dead, touched off a wave of panic about the possiblity of tighter gun-control laws. Ammo tax receipts alone for that year, roughly $255 million, were nearly double the 1991 tax receipts for handguns, long guns and ammo combined.
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