South Carolina’s New Bill Would Ad 7% Tax To Gun Sales To Pay For School Resource Officers

432

A new bill has just been introduced into the South Carolina House of Representatives that would add an additional 7% tax on all gun sales, which would be used to hire school resource officers at every school in the state.

House Bill 3109 was introduced by District 70 Representative Wendy Brawley (D) and District 79 Representative Ivory Thigpen (D) to pay for resource officers in the 600+ schools that are currently operating without one due to a lack of funding.

HB 3109 reads:

“In addition to any other tax or fee applied to the sale of a firearm, there is imposed a fee equal to seven percent of the gross proceeds from the sale of a firearm. The fee must be credited to a fund established within the State Department of Education entitled the ‘School Safety Fund’. The fund must be expended only to employ or otherwise provide school resource officers. Each school district may apply to the Department of Education for a disbursement from the fund. In determining which school district shall receive a disbursement, and the amount thereof, the Department of Education must give priority to school districts that, in the previous fiscal year, did not have a full-time school resource officer at each school within the district.”

The South Carolina Department of Education recently funded a total of 38 districts to hire school resource officers, including York County Schools. The measure was taken as the number of mass shootings in our country continues to rise.

“There is no issue more important than the safety and well being of our students and teachers. I appreciate the support of the General Assembly in recognizing this and taking a step in the right direction by funding new officers in those districts that have not been able to afford them. We still have a ways to go in meeting our goal for a trained law enforcement officer in every school by 2020 and I remain committed to ensuring this goal becomes a reality,” said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.

It’s thought that the new 7% gun fee would generate over $22 million extra revenue from gun sales every year.

What do you think about the newly proposed bill? 

Comments

comments