San Jose Imposes Fees and More on Gun Owners
If there is a fundamental human right that progressives detest even more than free speech, it is the right of self-defense, also known as the right to bear arms. Their agenda cannot be imposed on people who are able to defend themselves. They can’t repeal the Second Amendment directly, because Americans would not stand for it. So they attack it insidiously. To see what national Democrats will pull next, look to the state where they have achieved single-party status and are currently consolidating absolute power — California:
San Jose is now the first city in the nation to mandate gun owners to have liability insurance and pay an annual fee in an effort to curb gun violence.
“Gun violence” is liberalese for “gun ownership.” Putting the squeeze on lawful gun owners does not address actual gun violence, which tends to be inflicted by those who acquire guns illegally. On the contrary, it invites more gun violence, by rendering the law-abiding defenseless to criminals.
On Tuesday, councilmembers voted to approve the gun control rules requiring San Jose residents who own guns to pay an annual $25 fee per household and purchase gun insurance that specifically covers losses or damages resulting from “any negligent or accidental use of the firearm” in six months, according to the ordinance.
Once liberals have established that they can make you pay a fee to exercise your constitutional rights, this fee will rise sharply.
With roughly 50,000-55,000 San Jose households with guns, the annual fee is expected to bring in about $1.3 million per year.
From this humble stream will grow a mighty river of revenue, until greedy bureaucrats manage to drive gun ownership completely underground. Look what they have done with cigarette taxes. The average price for a pack of Marlboros in New York City is now $14. In the 1950s, a pack cost a quarter.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has exploited mass shootings to push the legislation.
“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 said. “That’s the point of this (legislation).”
The money people pay so that bureaucrats will let them exercise a fundamental right will supposedly be spent on counseling or whatever so that the maniacs liberals allow to run free won’t commit as much violence. Fewer violent maniacs will be particularly desirable if normal people are deprived of guns with which to defend themselves.
Similarly, the money gouged mainly from working class Americans through cigarette taxes is often targeted to healthcare. However, money is fungible. It all goes into the same government pot in the end. Virtually all of it is spent wastefully.
A nonprofit to distribute the proceeds looted from San Jose gun owners has not yet been created. Just send in your money, and leftist bureaucrats will figure out what to do with it later.
As for the insurance mandate, lone dissenting Councilmember Dev Davis notes that insurance companies will not cover negligent or criminal behavior:
“I’m still not certain how we can require a specific type of insurance that does not exist.”
The mandate is not intended to be reasonable. The point is to make life less pleasant for law-abiding gun owners. People who use guns to commit crimes will be unaffected by the insurance mandate.
Fortunately, there are still enough Americans on the Supreme Court for this brazenly unconstitutional ordinance to get shot down, before it is emulated throughout the country.
On tips from Bluto and Dragon’s Lair.
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