State 2A tax holidays saving buyers millions
States with a Second Amendment sales tax holiday are creating a windfall of savings for gun and ammunition purchasers this year. The savings are expected to be in the millions.
Florida’s new Second Amendment sales tax holiday is underway and will last through the end of the year. Firearms and ammunition, along with archery equipment, hunting, fishing and camping supplies, will be exempted from the state’s 6% sales tax. State economists anticipate buyers will save $44.8 million in the Sunshine State.
“I think you will probably see people that were planning on buying a new hunting shotgun or a new hunting rifle will probably take advantage of it and step up the level of what they were going to spend to buy a better rifle,” said JD Johnson, co-owner of Talon Tactical Outfitters, near Tallahassee, in one media report. “Most of the time, you’re not just buying a gun. You are buying a gun. You are buying ammunition. You are buying a case to put it in. You are buying a safe for maybe at home to lock it up in.”
Florida not alone
Sales tax holidays aren’t a new idea. Many states hold a tax holiday to encourage savings for shoppers. They’re most common for back-to-school sales. However, several states have instituted Second Amendment tax holidays, but none are as expansive as Florida’s.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed the tax holiday in his 2025-26 budget, originally slated to run from Memorial Day weekend through July 4, dubbing it a “Second Amendment Summer.” Those dates shifted to begin today and run through the end of the year. Gov. DeSantis signed the law in June.
“From September 8 through December 31st, all firearms, munitions, accoutrements, as well as things like bows and arrows, are tax free,” Gov. DeSantis said. “So that’s going to save some of our folks a lot of money to have that.”
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Florida isn’t the only state with a sales tax suspension to benefit lawful gun and ammunition buyers. Several states have no sales tax at all, including Alaska, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon. Other states have their own tax holidays that temporarily lift taxes on firearms, ammunition, and accessories.
South Carolina instituted a Second Amendment Weekend with tax-free firearm sales in 2008. That continues this year and runs from 12:01 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving until midnight the following Saturday.
Mississippi started its own Second Amendment Sale Tax Holiday in 2014 and already ran this year Aug. 29-31. Sales tax was exempted for pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns. Additionally, shotgun shells, cartridges, muzzleloader gunpowder and reloading supplies were also included in the sales tax exemptions, as well as suppressors, sight, scopes, along with archery equipment.
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“These are one of our busiest weekends all year for us,” said Jeremy Norris, Mississippi-based Covington County Supply owner, as he explained to the media. “We’re open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It’s the only Sunday we’re ever open in the year.”
Louisiana started a Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday in 2009 but suspended it in 2018 when the state faced a budget shortfall. It was brought back again last year and continued again this year. The weekend just finished up, running Sept. 5-7. The state’s Department of Revenue waived sales tax for firearms, ammunition, and specified hunting supplies, including archery items, hunting apparel, and certain types of knives. Other items included binoculars, hearing protection, range finders, decoys, hunting stands, and blinds.
Stalled ideas and ‘sin taxes’
The idea of a Second Amendment sales tax holiday has been bantered by legislators in other states, but bills to codify those into law never passed. Alabama considered a bill in 2014, but the bill was stalled in committee. In 2015, Texas, Tennessee, and Maryland all saw similar bills introduced, but they, too, didn’t make it to the finish line. Last year, Oklahoma considered a sales tax holiday for rifle ammunition purchases coinciding with the opening weekend of deer season, but that bill never made it to the governor.
All of this starkly contrasts efforts by legislators in other states to suppress law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights. At least two states applied “sin taxes” to lawful firearm and ammunition purchases. California and Colorado slapped excise taxes on firearm and ammunition sales. Californians now have to pay an additional 11% excise tax on firearm and ammunition purchases after a law levying the tax took effect July 1, 2024. Coloradans were hit with a similar 6.5% excise tax that took effect April 1.
NSSF supports U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) and U.S. Sen. Jim Risch’s (R-Idaho) Freedom from Unfair Gun Taxes Act, introduced as H.R.2442 and S.1169, respectively. Those bills would prohibit states from implementing excise taxes on firearms and ammunition to fund gun control programs.
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