If you want to exercise your constitutional rights in the Northern Mariana Islands, you’d better be willing to fork up $1,000. The U.S. territory just decided to implement a handgun tax on any gun purchased on the islands, no matter what size or caliber.

According to the Marianas Variety, the bill was passed after the island’s gun ban was struck down last month. The bill also included language that said guns should only be used for self-defense.

“An individual is allowed to use a firearm or deadly force in self-defense if: the individual is protecting him- or herself and the use of the firearm or deadly force would prevent the immediate use of force by an aggressor,” the bill reads.

“Provided further that this use is based upon the reasonable belief that the aggressor is about to inflict an intentional contact that would or could be reasonably thought to result in serious bodily harm or death and the use of force by the aggressor can safely be prevented only by the immediate use of a deadly force.”

Apparently, nobody seemed to notice that a $1,000 tax is roughly equivalent to a ban on a constitutional right, much like the poll taxes in the South. Those were struck down, too — although, given Obama’s assault on the Second Amendment, we’ll see if the courts even recognize constitutional rights anymore….

The Northern Mariana Islands, which are roughly halfway between Hawaii and China in the Pacific Ocean, only have a little over 50,000 people on them. However, those people are Americans, and they have the right to bear arms.

Until this ban is lifted, patriotic Americans shouldn’t spend any money in the Northern Mariana Islands. If lawmakers there want to block our Constitution, they don’t want our money.