This weekend Mississippi shoppers can enjoy a tax break under the state’s Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday.
From Friday morning until midnight on Sunday, customers in Mississippi will be exempt from the seven percent sales tax on firearms and other related products.
Next week, dove hunting season begins, making it a perfect time for the sale, Scotty Davis, owner of Davis Sports and Outdoors, said.
Davis said his sales multiplied by five or six times during last year’s tax holiday.
Tavish Kelly, co-owner of Kelly Firearms in Picayune, said they expect to sell as much this weekend as they would in three months.
“Since we’ve had the sales tax holiday, it’s created a large surge in the purchase of firearms,” Kelly said.
It’s like Christmas, Davis said. Between now and February he expects to be very busy.
Kelly said many of his customers defer their shopping until the annual holiday, especially for expensive items.
According to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Revenue, the tax break applies to firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies. It also applies to items that are delivered afterward purchases, if the purchase is made during the weekend, the release states.
Kelly and Davis said they will honor that stipulation.
Customers can purchase weapons tax-free even if they are not currently in stock, Kelly said. That also includes custom builds that can take two to four weeks, he said.
In previous years, Kelly said he has sold more handguns than rifles and that a list of available firearms for purchase can be found on the Facebook page at Kelly Firearms.
Kelly Firearms is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or by appointment.
Davis Sports & Outdoors is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Both are closed on Sunday.
A full list of eligible items can be found on the Mississippi Department of Revenue website.
State legislation passed in 2014 created the annual sales tax holiday, held annually in early fall.