The mayor of a Silicon Valley city has a novel plan to reduce gun violence and it could prove to be an expensive one for owners of firearms.
San Jose’s Sam Liccardo unveiled his five-point harm reduction plan Monday. In a national first, the ordinance would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance or pay a fee to cover the public cost of dealing with gun violence.
“Liccardo also called on the city to explore a tax on all gun and ammunition purchases and exploring a partnership with the district attorney’s office to explore ‘a consent-to-search program’ where parents will allow police to search their homes for any weapons owned by their juvenile children,” according to the Sacramento Bee.
“A mayor doesn’t have the luxury of just offering ‘thoughts and prayers’ — we have to solve problems,” Liccardo said in a statement.
San Jose is located about 30 miles from the town of Gilroy where three people were killed and another 13 wounded in a mass shooting last month.
Liccardo’s proposal would have to be adopted by the San Jose City Council. It would undoubtedly be met with legal challenges from Second Amendment supporters as it creates a new financial burden for the constitutionally-protected right to own a firearm.
In addition to the cost to human life, the Giffords Law Center estimates that gun violence costs the United States $229 billion per year.