Texas State Senator Jeff Wentworth is proposing a “tax free weekend” for the sales of guns and ammo. It is filed as SB 1788.

It’s an interesting thought no doubt. Every year at “back to school” time there’s a tax free weekend here in Texas allowing families to purchase clothing and other necessities for kids going back to school and all tax free. What isn’t taxed is very limited (e.g. basic clothing, school-type backpacks; no accessories, no sporting goods, etc.), but many stores know how big a shopping weekend it is so they’ll have their own promotions that basically eliminate the tax… technically yes you’re still paying tax, but they’ll adjust the price so in the end it totals up to the regular price sans sales tax, or other sales promotional gimmick. Either way, the weekend is always big business.

So to provide such a weekend for hunters to obtain the things they need, there’s merit to the idea.

I did find this a choice quote in the article:

“It is not because we don’t believe in people’s right to bear arms,” [Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston] said. “It’s because we don’t think we ought to subsidize an industry, which is what this bill would, subsidize the gun industry.”

Note, Rep. Coleman has an “F” rating from the NRA. So please excuse me if I doubt the sincerity of the first part of his statement. And I guess then it’s OK to subsidize the clothing industry? Oh I forgot… that’s thinking of the children, right?