



TACOMA, Wash. - The Tacoma City Council has postponed its vote on a controversial gun and ammunition tax.



Dozens packed into council chambers Tuesday to hear what the future would look like for gun and ammunition purchases in the city.



Tacoma is considering implementing a tax that would add $25 to all firearms purchase. The tax would also add 2 cents per round to ammunition purchases that is .22 Caliber or less and add 5 cents per round to all other ammunition.



Mayor Victoria Woodards says council members wanted to add amendments to the tax, and because of that, the council wanted to give themselves and the community more time.



“While it’s an incredibly urgent issue, we want to make sure that we get the language accurate as much as we can for the first time,” said Council member Ryan Mello one of the proposed gun tax sponsors.



Some people who oppose to the city’s proposed tax see the postponement as a good sign.



“We’re very hopeful they’ll not only delay this, but table the whole tax,” said Scott Dover.



Dover is the CEO of Aero Precision, a gun manufacturer based out of Tacoma that employs hundreds of people.



“Our employees are extremely concerned about the impact to them,” he said.



Dan Davies owns Mary’s Pistols, a small gun shop he and his wife have run for nearly 15 years.



Davies says while postponing the final vote gives him hope, it also makes things more difficult for him.



“I took away from my shop time to come here and get through this because it’s that important to me. This is my livelihood,” he said.



Kim Gatbunton says she is disappointed council did not make a final vote as well, but for a very different reason.



“We really want to see that it passes and that we’re ready to move forward with this,” she said.



Gatbunton says while she is disappointed the vote did not happen, she understand the reason behind the decision.



“It’s a wise choice. I think that they’ll sit down with the council and look at the information and maybe they'll come back with something that may make both sides feel better,” she said.



The council says they plan to make a decision on the controversial tax on November 12th.