Protect Americans by restoring federal mental health programs and fund these programs with a tax on ammunition.

Enact an immediate restoration of all federally funded mental health programs canceled by Ronald Reagan during his tenure as president of the United States. The funding for these programs should be generated by a “gunpowder tax” upon the retail sale of ammunition, taxing black powder or processed cordite, as measured by the grain within each cartridge sold. Such a tax will have the effect of funding a much needed re-formation of a national mental health care system, and provide for the restoration of mental health institutions that can provide temporary or permanent care of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others. The collection of a “gunpowder tax” would also have the effect of specifically discouraging the sale of higher powered (therefore more lethal) types of ammunition.