The point about bootlegging is it does not matter if the cigarettes are stamped or not. It is the transport of cigarettes across the state lines and then sold in another state from were they were bought.
The Indian smoke shop in New Mexico was just shut down by the ATF for doing just that. So it does not matter if they are Native American Smoke Shops either.
The Indian smoke shops do not have to follow state laws. They are required to follow all federal laws including the Jenkins Act no matter how much they argue the point.
Too many people confuse the many different issues when dealing with cigarettes.
1. Most which is mainly in New York Indian smoke shops have been fighting for years that they do not have to comply with the white man laws but their contracts with the government say different. They can buy untaxed products and sell to Native American Indians that live on the reservation, not to non-natives living on or off the reservations. That is one point of this huge war.
2. Second all states want their state tax for with many they are losing this state tax if people buy online whether or not they are stamped cigarettes or not, they are not stamped with the state stamp for that particular state they are being shipped to.
3. Third you got people like the guy in Kentucky that is going to South Carolina buying unstamped and stamped cigarettes and transporting them across state lines and selling them in another state to people all over the United States again not paying the tax on them.
What it all narrows down to is bootlegging cigarettes no matter how you wish to paint the picture.
What really bothers me about the whole situation is we are all free people, we should be able to buy cigarettes from any state as long as they have a Native American stamp on them or any other state stamp on them either by mail order or by driving to a place and buy them. It should not be the business of the government, state or ATF where we wish to buy our legal cigarette tobacco from. If North Carolina has cheaper cigarettes and I wish to buy from them then that is my business the same if I wish to buy my cigarettes from Indian in New York. Plain and Simple.
