Democrats demand 1,000% tax on 'assault weapons,' which they define as any semi-automatic gun with 10 rounds or more

Democrats in the House of Representatives are pressuring Speaker Kevin McCarthy to hold a vote on legislation that would place an excise tax on what they consider "assault weapons" and increase gun prices by 1,000%.

More than two dozen Democrats, including Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, penned a letter to the House speaker to bring the legislation to the floor "as soon as possible," The Hill reported.

The members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force put forward the same suggestions that were proposed in 2022 when 38 Democrats wanted the incredible tax increase.

An excise tax, which places a duty on the product at the moment of manufacturing, would increase the price of a $1,000 firearm to $10,000 before it even gets to a retailer.

As there was no new published version, it is unclear whether the legislation differs from the 2022 text, which also came from Beyer.

In the previous iteration, the tax was imposed on any magazine or related device that can accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition, according to Fox News.

The provided definition for "semiautomatic assault weapon" was a semi-automatic rifle or pistol with a fixed magazine of 10 rounds or more or that has other various features. Any gun fitting the definition would have the excise tax applied.

“We are disappointed that Republican leadership cancelled votes in July with so many pressing issues facing our country. Foremost amongst those is the gun violence crisis that is the leading cause of death for children in America,” the Democrats wrote in their letter.

“As Members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, we call on you to schedule votes on gun violence prevention legislation as soon as possible this year,” they added. “We also have a new standing request that should the vote schedule fall apart again, you would fill that time to vote on life-saving gun violence prevention legislation, instead of canceling votes altogether.”

The group provided statistics about gun violence, including that "1,686 children were killed and another 4,485 were injured by gun violence" in 2022. It continued to call the violence "preventable carnage" and said the Republican-controlled House "has yet to vote on even one gun violence prevention bill."

According to Breitbart, however, California has had an "assault weapons" ban while having the most firearm-related homicides in a single state in 2021.

The outlet also claimed that 17% of annual firearm murders in the country were in California that year.

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