CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE (COLORADO EDITION): Lawsuit challenges constitutionality of Prop KK guns and ammunition tax.

Proposition KK — passed in November with 54 percent of the vote — will add a 6.5 percent excise tax on the manufacture and sale of firearms and ammunition. It will be imposed on firearms dealers, manufacturers and ammunition vendors, with the exception of those selling less than $20,000 per year as well as law enforcement agencies and active-duty military.

The lawsuit was filed on the basis that the tax is unconstitutional because it does not pass a “means-end” test handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2022 Bruen decision. That historical case ruled that gun rights restrictions must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations.< “The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held in various contexts that the exercise of a constitutional right cannot be singled out for special taxation,” says the complaint in part, filed on March 31. “Federal legislation to prevent this sort of tax was introduced just days ago in both the House and Senate,” SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said. “They’re calling it the Freedom from Unfair Gun Taxes Act, and greedy, anti-gun lawmakers in Colorado are probably at least partly responsible for such a bill on Capitol Hill. You simply cannot tax the exercise of a constitutionally-protected fundamental right.”

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