Catherine Dorrough’s op-ed in the Montgomery Advertiser attacking Alabama’s HB360, the so-called “Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday,” misses the point entirely. While we both agree this bill is dumb, it’s not for the reasons she says.
She writes as if HB360 is some sweeping pro-gun reform that will unleash chaos in the streets. That is nonsense. This is not a meaningful rollback of anti-gun tax policy. Frankly, it’s barely even a “pro-gun” bill. It is a short, annual sales tax holiday tied to the last weekend of August, and even then, it only exempts the state portion unless local governments decide to participate.
In other words, the “relief” offered here is limited, temporary, and politically convenient.
That is what Dorrough completely misses. The biggest problem with HB360 is not that it goes too far. It barely goes anywhere at all.
This bill is a gimmick, a cover vote, and worst of all, it gives politicians a chance to go home, puff out their chests, and tell gun owners how “pro-gun” they are without doing the one thing that would actually matter on this issue: permanently repealing taxes on constitutionally protected arms, ammunition, and related gear.
If Alabama Republicans want credit for defending the Second Amendment, they need to start acting like a party with a supermajority. They have the votes, they have the power, and they have no excuse for governing like a timid minority scared of their own shadow. Democrats, for all the damage they do, at least understand how to use power when voters hand it to them.
Just look at Virginia. When they seized control after the 2025 election, they did not waste time with symbolic gestures and half-measures. They pushed sweeping gun bans and major anti-gun legislation because they were serious about delivering on what they promised their voters.
I wholeheartedly oppose what they are doing (I think it is reprehensible), but they are using the power they were given to govern and enact meaningful policy change. Alabama Republicans should take notice. If they keep offering gun owners crumbs and calling it a full-course meal, they are going to create very real political problems for themselves down the road.
What makes this proposal even less impressive is that it falls well short of the relief already adopted in neighboring states. In Florida, lawmakers enacted a 2025 tax holiday covering firearms, ammunition, and other qualifying outdoor items from Sept. 8 through Dec. 31, a nearly 4-month period. By contrast, Alabama Republicans are attempting to market a narrow three-day weekend exemption as though it reflects serious pro-Second Amendment policymaking. Measured against the more substantial relief already implemented just across the state line, this bill does not read as bold reform. Frankly, it does not even read as particularly pro-gun.
The local opt-in provision is one of the clearest signs that HB360 is just a bad bill. A genuine pro-gun tax cut would apply statewide, without compromise. Instead, the bill allows local governments to decide whether they want to participate, creating a policy that is temporary, geographically uneven, and structurally unserious. Whether a citizen receives meaningful relief depends not on the nature of the right being exercised, but on the political preferences of local officials, creating a patchwork scheme that allows lawmakers to claim progress while preserving the underlying tax burden in much of the state.
That failure becomes even more obvious when viewed against the broader tax structure Alabama gun owners already face.
Firearms and ammunition are generally subject to the federal Pittman-Robertson excise tax, which typically applies at 11% on long guns, archery and ammunition and 10% on handguns. Alabama then imposes its 4% state sales tax, and local governments may add their own sales taxes on top of that, up to 7%. While these taxes are imposed at different stages, the larger point is easy to understand: the government is still taking a cut at multiple levels from the purchase of constitutionally protected goods, and it is time for us as “pro-gun,” small government conservatives to fix it in Alabama once and for all.
That is why Dorrough’s moral panic over this bill is so absurd. She treats any effort to reduce taxes on firearms as though it were some kind of public danger. But what she is really defending is the principle that government may impose a financial burden on the exercise of a constitutional right. That logic is not far removed from the logic behind a poll tax. In both cases, the state places a price on the exercise of a right and then pretends the burden is reasonable.
That is backwards.
If Alabama can acknowledge that school supplies and storm-preparation items are important enough to justify tax relief, then surely firearms, ammunition, and self-defense equipment deserve at least the same treatment. These are not niche luxury goods. They are constitutionally protected tools directly tied to the right to self-defense and to keep and bear arms.
Dorrough also falls back on the same tired anti-gun slogans we have all heard before. More guns mean more death. Alabama already has permissive gun laws. Why do gun owners need more? It is the same lazy argument every time. It ignores criminals, defensive gun use, the fact that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem, and it sidesteps the real question entirely: why should peaceful citizens be taxed so heavily for exercising a right politicians claim to respect?
That is why so many actual gun owners are not buying the spin around HB360. We are not rejecting Dorrough’s argument because this bill is some masterpiece of pro-gun policy. We are rejecting it because her argument is wrong and because she is attacking the bill for being too pro-gun when the truth is that it is not pro-gun at all.
So yes, this bill is bad.
It is bad because it is weak, temporary, and dependent on whether local governments choose to participate, which lets politicians posture as bold defenders of the Second Amendment without delivering anything close to real reform.
Alabama gun owners do not need another symbolic gesture. We need lawmakers to use the power voters gave them and pass a permanent repeal of state and local sales taxes on firearms, ammunition, magazines, suppressors, and related gear. And with only a few days left in the legislative session, the Alabama Senate should move quickly to amend HB360 accordingly by making the tax relief permanent and preempting local governments from imposing their own sales taxes on these constitutionally protected items.
Anything less is just playing games.
Taylor Rhodes is a Board Member of BamaCarry and the Director of Communications at the National Association for Gun Rights. A seasoned political strategist and unapologetic defender of the Second Amendment, Taylor has led high-impact campaigns at both the state and national levels. He lives in Hoover, Ala., with his wife, Madison, and enjoys bourbon, golf, and shooting firearms, especially his 12.5” Geissele Super Duty.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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