New Law Will Leave Gun Owners On The Hook For Gun Violence In This City
On Tuesday, San Jose, California, became the first city in the United States to approve a law requiring all gun owners to pay a fee and carry liability insurance.
“The Silicon Valley city’s council split the vote into two parts: the first approving the bulk of the proposal, including the insurance provisions, and the second approving the fee provisions. The insurance vote passed 10-1, while the fees vote passed 8-3. The ordinance must be approved next month at its final reading in order to take effect in August,” CNN reported.
“Under San Jose’s proposed law, gun owners would be charged an annual $25 fee directed to a nonprofit set up to distribute funds to gun crime prevention and to victims of gun violence. The measure also would require gun owners to obtain liability insurance that would cover damage caused by their weapon,” CNN added.
Prior to the vote, Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights and executive director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights and an opponent of the proposed law, told CNN, “We’ve opposed this ordinance every step of the way and we will see this through to the end. … If the San Jose City Council actually votes to impose this ridiculous tax on the Constitutional right to gun ownership, our message is clear and simple: see you in court.”
After a mass shooting at a public transit rail yard in San Jose in May 2021 in which eight workers were killed, the San Jose city council unanimously approved drafting the ordinance calling for the restrictions on gun owners.
San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo, a Democrat, wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week:
We anticipate that a barrage of lawsuits from the firearm industry and gun rights advocates will follow. … Why should any city subject itself to litigation? Because now-common horrific reports of shootings throughout the nation do little more than elicit a performative parade of prayers and platitudes from Congress. Because problem-solving must be elevated over political posturing. …
Requiring every gun owner in my city to carry liability insurance will better compensate unintentional shooting victims and their families for medical and related expenses. More importantly, insurance can also incentivize safer gun ownership. Risk-adjusted premiums will encourage owners to take gun-safety courses, use gun safes or install child-safe trigger locks to reduce the annual toll of accidental gun harm. …
Gun rights advocates argue that gun owners should not have to pay a fee to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms. To be sure, the 2nd Amendment protects the rights of citizens to own guns, but it doesn’t require the public to subsidize gun ownership. …
Critics say that criminals won’t obey insurance or fee mandates — and they are right. But these ordinances create a legal mandate that gives police the means for at least the temporary forfeiture of guns from dangerous law-breakers.
Original Article: https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-jose-ca-becomes-first-u-s-city-to-approve-forcing-gun-owners-to-carry-liability-insurance?
Horrific mass shootings, all the while totally ignoring the massive number of times a gun was used in the prevention of crime or the even the loss of life. This is just another way to steal from the inocent.
One more question just how is the city going to identify who owns/has a gun.
This is ridiculous. How will this new law prevent crime?? All they are doing is going after Law Abiding Citizens while at the same time they release criminals and illegal immigrants onto our neighborhood.
There is no such thing as “gun violence”!It is the person behind the “gun” who is violent. What San Jose,CA. has done is violate the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America by placing conditions on “gun” ownership.The tax payer should NOT have to pay for the right to keep and bear arms,and they certainly shouldn’t have to pay for the heinous crimes committed by criminals,who by the way do NOT follow the law,by using “guns” to commit their heinous crimes.The lawsuits are going to go all the way to the SCOTUS,where they will be struck down as unconstitutional.If they are not struck down,the SCOTUS will have proven they are biased,political and do not follow the law or U.S. Constitution as written.
The term, Gun Violence, is a liberal generated terminology to associate guns with violence. Guns are not violent, people can be violent. After repeated use by liberals the usage is widely used by all media. Stop using Gun Violence and say violence. It’s easier to write new laws against your right to own and care a firearm.
And you going to tell me that the bad guys are going to comply with this law . The bad guys, the Gangs are all going to get insurance. Are all people in Calif. that Dumb. I know the Gov. is Dumb but are the rest of Cailf. people sheep and following . Their is no bad guys going to pay insurance.
You are so right! “They” need to clamp down of the ILLEGAL guns and their owners. People who legally own guns are not the ones creating the violence! Gangs and criminals are the ones causing the violence, and they are certainly are not going to follow the new law! This law only penalizes legal gun owners… the ones who have actually prevented a lot of violence! Seems like the Legal gun owners are easier to deal with than going after the Gangs and Criminals! CRAZY! Time to get tough on Crime, and get illegal guns off the streets, and leave legal gun owners alone!
That’s ridiculous in every sense. The law abiding citizens will have to pay for the actions of criminals???!! California lawmakers are saying that the violence and destruction are peaceful demonstrations held by the violent groups known as BLM and Antifa??!! I’m just amazed that anyone would vote these people into office. Guarantee it is another plot to rob law-abiding citizens with these ridiculous new fees for gun owners
Why should law-abiding citizens with REGISTERED guns, have to be punished with regulations and forced to buy insurance because the Cities are unable to confiscate the ILLEGAL guns nor keep violent offenders in jail ???
A tax to stop gun violence that is only levied on law-abiding gun owners?
What’s wrong with this picture?
How about a tax on violent crime involving guns? Does anybody think that might reduce gun violence? It would be just as effective as the measure passed by the city government.
I do not like the “gun fee” along with gun taxes, etc., but I do think that responsible gun owners should have liability insurance that will cover their legal defense as well as general liability in case of a shooting event. However, this should be voluntary and not mandated.
The person that commits the crime is the one that should pay. The politicians are using this for another way to put more in their pockets. they don’t put the criminals in prison to stay so they will know better if they ever get out.
and yet, come election time, you run and vote for the same folks creating these laws…who really is to blame?
Absolutely, all criminals will flock to the nearest insurance agency to obtain liability insurance on their stolen illegal firearms. In addition, they will pay the tax,maybe even pay double just to show what honest criminals they are.
Let me get this right!
San Jose can’t stop the gun violence by enforcing laws and increasing the prison time for the criminals.
The criminals don’t have the funds to pay for the harm and damages they cause.
So it’s up the the law abiding gun owners to pay additional fees to cover the criminal’s illegal actions.
I have no control over what another person does. I already pay for the defense attorney supplied by the court.
Why should I have to pay additional fees to be a law abiding gun owner. I’d rather pay the additional fees to keep the criminals in prison longer!
This reminds me of a law here in Maryland. If you start your car in your own driveway, lock the door and leave it alone running to warm up, you are breaking the law. When someone illegally trespasses onto your property, illegally breaks into your car, and illegally steals it, the police will arrest, fine and jail the car owner. It is easier to arrest, fine and jail the victim than go looking for the thief. The victim is standing right there asking for help!!! Silly victim. It used to be the key problem was the key left in the ignition; but then car makers made cars so they could be started with the remote. Changed the law accordingly. Never admit anything!!!
“DO YOU NOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE?” I’d think twice before you and your family venture here; you may not like what you find.