In the first reading on Wednesday, the City Council of San Jose, California voted in favor of a requirement for gun owners to carry liability insurance. Mayor Sam Liccardo proposed the legislation in 2019 after a shooting occurred at the Gilroy Garlic Festival south of San Jose.
The law would be the first of its kind in a U.S. city and will likely be passed at the second reading in February, putting it into effect in August. Under the law, the liability insurance would cover damages from “negligent or accidental use of the firearm” reports National Review.
Sam Paredes, Executive Director of Gun Owners of California, said the legislation is useless. In a statement prior to the council’s vote he wrote, “there is zero logic to these proposals. The Mayor has admitted that criminals will ignore the law – but he believes he’s going to curb gun crime somehow by making the good guys buy liability insurance? This is some oddball reasoning for sure.”
Mayor Liccardo on the other hand told reporters “when we think about the horrible mass shootings, I don’t pretend to know that we could have stopped it or not. But if in fact, we could have delivered some mental health services, there may have been a chance.”
Liccardo did also acknowledge that “this won’t stop mass shootings and keep bad people from committing a violent crime.” Under the law, gun owners would be required to pay a $25 annual fee, to be collected by a non-profit.
The fee would be collected by a non-profit “and disbursed to other organizations toward gun safety training, domestic violence prevention, suicide prevention, and mental health services” reports National Review.
The San Jose Spotlight reported, “with an estimated 50,000 to 55,000 gun owners in San Jose, the fee could bring in roughly $1.3 million.”