The mayor of San Jose, CA, has reintroduced his proposal to make gun owners’ insurance and annual gun fees mandatory.
During a recent memorial service held for the victims of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) shooting incident on May 26, 2021, Mayor Sam Liccardo declared that he would push for legislation he had previously proposed that would further regulate gun ownership.
“With council approval, San Jose would become the first city in the United States to require every gun owner to have liability insurance coverage for their firearms. Second, San Jose would become the first US city to require gun owners to pay a fee to compensate taxpayers for the public cost of responding to gun violence,” Liccardo said.
Liccardo first proposed the idea of making gun insurance mandatory following a previous shooting incident in 2019 during the Gilroy Garlic Festival, which resulted in the deaths of three. By comparison, the 2021 VTA shooting incident saw the deaths of 10 people – including the gunman via self-inflicted shots – making it the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The mayor gave assurances that the insurance would be “little to no extra cost” for several gun owners, since they would already have it as part of their homeowners’ insurance policy.
“And that way we can ensure that victims are compensated where there’s an insurable event. And of course, insurance companies will help us make gun possession safer,” said Liccardo.
KPIX 5 reported that in addition to the plan to make gun liability insurance mandatory, Liccardo is convening with a team of experts to determine how much it would cost taxpayers to implement an annual gun fee.
“We are cognizant, as the Second Amendment dictates, so that we will not be imposing fees that are so great as to be prohibitive to ownership. We want a fee that will compensate taxpayers for the cost of everything from emergency rooms to police response,” the mayor stated.
