Alabama could soon join the handful of states that have adopted "tax-free holidays" on the purchase of firearms, ammunition, and some accessories. HB 360 has cleared its committee hurdles and could get a vote in the full House next week, and with 58 co-sponsors in the lower chamber it's virtually guaranteed to be approved and head to the Senate.
Under the bill, the purchase of ammunition, cartridge cases, primers, bullets, propellant powder, firearms, hunting supplies, archery equipment, firearm and archery accessories, hearing protection, holsters, belts, slings, and suppressors would all be exempt from the state's 4% sales tax during the last weekend in August. The bill also allows counties and municipalities to exempt these same items from their local sales and use taxes, which could mean even more savings for gun owners.
Though support for HB 360 is widespread in the House, it does have its opponents.
Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, disagreed in a committee hearing.
“When you look at the number of people and how much violence is happening throughout the entire state of Alabama, it is just unfathomable to me that we would do this,” Drummond said.
Drummond said lawmakers should instead be promoting safe storage of firearms to save lives.
“We’ve had incidents throughout the entire state where there’s so many guns on campuses and kids are being killed or injured,” Drummond said. “So I can’t support this.”
I'm sure Drummond would like to raise taxes on guns and ammunition, as Democrats have done in California and Colorado. Virginia Democrats are also pushing an 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition, and despite Gov. Abigail Spanberger's claims about making the state a more affordable place to live, I doubt that applies to those of us exercising our right to keep and bear arms.
How about gun owners? Gonna veto that 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition when it gets to your desk? https://t.co/7UQeWeXbRV
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) February 12, 2026
With Democrats intent on jacking up taxes on the purchase of guns and ammo year-round, it's worth asking whether these sales tax "holidays" are enough. I'm not opposed to HB 360 by any means, but I have to say I'd be far more supportive if the legislation simply exempted the aforementioned products from the state's sales tax 365 days a year.
I understand that asking politicians to give up revenue is kind of like asking Shannon Watts to give up botox, but it would be a huge signal of support for the right to keep and bear arms.
There's also the argument that its unconstitutional to tax the exercise of a constitutionally-protected right, but the Supreme Court's precedence on that subject has been limited to special taxes that apply only to those items (and the Court has never ruled on the legality of special taxes on Second Amendment-protected items). From my non-lawyerly perspective, my guess is that general sales taxes on guns and ammunition would be upheld by the courts, but still doesn't prevent legislators from exempting those items if they so choose.
HB 360 would be beneficial as is, but I do hope that red state legislatures will go even bigger in the near future. Florida's sales tax holiday runs from September through December, and that's one model to follow, but a year-round exemption should be our goal in every state where we have a pro-2A majority in the statehouse.
Editor’s Note: The anti-gun left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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