In a farflung territory of the U.S., a tax on guns that went into law this month has sent chills down the spines of conservative think tanks thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C.

Starting on April 11, a new gun control law was put into place in the Northern Mariana Islands, a Pacific commonwealth of the U.S. with just over 50,000 permanent inhabitants. Among other provisions stipulated by the law, all pistols will be subject to a $1,000 tax.

Days after the law went into effect, local Gov. Ralph Torres defended it against opposition and a potential lawsuit, saying that the tax might be “a role model” for other states and jurisdictions that are facing uncontrolled gun violence.

In the nation’s capital, conservative groups have taken notice to the unprecedented tax.

“The threat of such a tax serving as a role model for other politicians to impose is not an idle one,” wrote a blog post by Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group founded by Grover Norquist, the anti-tax leader famous for getting a majority of Republican lawmakers to sign a pledge not to raise taxes.

“The Left is now seeking to tax guns out of existence,” said Norquist of the Mariana Islands’ new law in a statement.

In Seattle, for instance, a “gun violence tax” went into effect in January, which allows the city to collect a $25 tax on every gun sale, and between 2 cents and a nickel on every round of ammunition, depending on the caliber. The funds raised from the new tax will go to research on the impact of gun violence in the community.

---In Illinois’ Cook County, the home of Chicago, firearm sales have been taxed at $25 each since 2012, and starting later this year, a one- to five-cent tax is being imposed per round of ammunition.
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