The San Jose City Council voted unanimously to approve some of the most-overreaching gun-control measures this country has ever seen.
The nation’s 10th-largest city will now require every gun owner to have “liability insurance” coverage for firearms ownership. Not satisfied with one overreaching measure, the city will also require gun owners to pay an annual fee to “relieve the public cost of gun violence.”
“While the Second Amendment certainly protects the right to own a gun, it does not mandate that we subsidize as taxpayers the possession of these guns,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.
This mayor thinks non-gun owning taxpayers are subsidizing those who legally exercise their Second Amendment rights? It takes a deep dive into an ideological rabbit hole to understand that thinking. “More guns, equals less crime” is not just a catchphrase popularized by John Lott’s 1998 book. The fact that a legally armed citizenry is safer is well documented and can be seen by anyone who compares inner-city Chicago to nearby towns just outside the city.
Law-abiding gun owners are hardly at fault for the actions of criminals who obtain and use firearms illegally. Criminals also won’t pay San Jose’s new taxes on firearms.
“This is an attempt to punish law-abiding gun owners for owning a lawful product by making them pay for the activities of criminals. Taxing lawful ownership and requiring insurance will do nothing to reduce gun violence, which is often committed by repeat criminals who will not be paying the fees or obtaining insurance. It simply increases the cost for law-abiding citizens to exercise a constitutional right,” reported the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
Already, California has some of the most-burdensome gun-control laws in the nation. It is one of eight states that allow concealed carry only on a “may-issue” basis, and many of its cities, such as San Jose, are home to the most-restrictive gun laws in the nation.
Sadly, just as Mayor Liccardo blames guns for the actions of criminals, Bidens’s White House Press Secretary has recently made these same egregious, untrue claims.
This misguided policy makes it even more difficult, both financially and practically, for gun owners to exercise their rights. This, in particular, is an attack on the poor and under-privileged in San Jose.
