As some of you may remember, I've been pushing for mandatory liability insurance for gun owners for many years. The city of San Jose took matters into their own hands and will now require gun owners to take out insurance. Via the Daily Beast:
Just five weeks after last month’s massacre at a San Jose light-rail yard that left nine people dead, the city has taken unprecedented gun-control action.
In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, San Jose’s city council approved a national first that will see gun owners being forced to compensate taxpayers for the spiraling costs of gun violence. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, gun owners in California’s third-largest city will be required to take out liability insurance for their firearms, and pay an annual tax that will help fund emergency responses to gun-related calls.
In a news release ahead of Tuesday night’s vote, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said: “While the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, it does not require taxpayers to subsidize gun ownership... We won’t magically end gun violence, but we stop paying for it. We can also better care for its victims, and reduce gun-related injuries and death.”
They expect to be sued by gun rights groups, but Mayor Liccardo believes his proposals will stand.
Now if we can only expand the Supreme Court before this case gets there!
