That's it! We're moving!

Was reading this after the feast yesterday.

Gun taxes take a holiday in S.C.
Perks keep coming on Black Friday

By SEANNA ADCOX
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- TVs and laptops won't be the only hot items in South Carolina this Black Friday. The state is offering an unusual perk to shoppers: no sales tax on handguns, rifles and shotguns.

The so-called Second Amendment Weekend is thanks to a little-debated amendment legislators tacked on this summer to a tax break for energy-efficient appliances.

While the energy-efficiency measure doesn't go into effect until next year, on Friday and Saturday gun buyers won't have to pay state and local sales taxes that can total 8 percent. Taxes still apply to ammunition and accessories.

"We are a gun-owning-tradition state, a hunting-tradition state," said Republican state Rep. Mike Pitts, a retired police officer who introduced the proposal and has promoted other pro-gun legislation.

"Quite often people will buy their pop or grandpop a shotgun or rifle to hunt with for Christmas," he said in an interview by cell phone while out hunting.

While stores that sell guns are hoping for a boost in business, some opponents called it a gimmick that plays politics by tinkering with the state's tax code.

Legislators approved the holiday in June over the objection of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, also an avid hunter and gun supporter. He called it a stunt that only affects the timing of a gun purchase, without effectively promoting gun ownership or demand.

"Regardless of what the sales tax holiday is for, we think it's gimmicky and a bad idea," spokesman Joel Sawyer said.

The cost impact is negligible; state economic officials estimate it will cost about $15,000 at a time that South Carolina had to cut annual spending by $488 million.

South Carolina is the only state offering any kind of tax break to shoppers over Thanksgiving weekend, said Joe Henchman, counsel for the Washington-based Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group.

He opposes tax holidays -- offered in 16 states this year -- as complicating the tax code and confusing customers. The tax code should not be used to make political statements, he said.

And was thinking "wow, how cool!" when the local broadcast channel ran an ad for Cabelas. With announcement of a sales price for a Marlin .22.

Advertising gun sales on over-the-air broadcast television in King County?