Nice Glock. Do You Have Insurance For That? [Above The Law]

On Tuesday, San Jose, California, made history by voting for a measure that would require gun owners to have liability insurance and pay $25 annual fees that would go toward firearm safety education and training, suicide prevention, and domestic violence and mental health services.

The liability insurance would cover losses or damages resulting from any accidental use of the firearm, including death, injury, or property damage, according to the ordinance. If a gun is stolen or lost, the owner of the firearm would be considered liable until the theft or loss is reported to authorities.

Unsurprisingly, some gun owners were very vocal in their opposition. One argument against the proposed law is that it does nothing to address guns people make at home or obtain illegally, be it via theft or poorly done/nonexistent background checks. I think that this is a red herring — even if this particular law doesn’t impact illegally held guns, it does have an effect on guns gained through legal avenues, which is an area some would like to still see regulated. While mass shootings and gun crime do happen with illegal guns, it happens with legally obtained ones too. I think that Mayor Sam Liccardo’s response was on point:

“This won’t stop mass shootings and keep bad people from committing violent crime, but most gun deaths nationally are from suicide, accidental shootings or other causes and even many homicides stem from domestic violence…gun violence costs San Jose taxpayers $40 million a year in emergency response services.”

The likely stronger argument is that this might be unconstitutional. I understand why laws like this are desirable, especially in the wake of a mass shooting, but the notion that rights are rights despite how many lives are lost is very much en vogue right now. And despite the mayor explicitly stating that gun owners who don’t have insurance won’t lose their guns or face any criminal charges, I do wonder what the penalty for not having insurance would be. Maybe moves like this will be what we need to offer accountability instead of thoughts and prayers the next time some kid is unforeseeably murdered in the country where it is such a regular occurrence, even children are predicting it.

San Jose Passes First U.S. Law Requiring Gun Owners To Get Liability Insurance And Pay Annual Fee [CBS News]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.