Amidst our country’s eternal undulations of “thoughts and prayers,” and genuine mourning for innocent victims piling up from the McMass Shootings™ wracking the U.S., California has emerged again with some radical ideas to try and do something that could tamp down on gun violence.
A new measure introduced on Thursday by Democratic California State Senator Nany Skinner in the State Legislature, to be added as an amendment to the gutted SB 505 bill, would force gun owners to purchase liability insurance covering the negligent or accidental use of their firearms, holding them responsible for the financial costs of gun violence that typically fall on the shoulders of survivors, families, taxpayers, and affected communities.
In essence, the requirement would resemble the insurance drivers are mandated to obtain when they want to operate the heavy metal, potentially deadly machines we call cars.
The gun owner would need to also specify with written evidence where they store their firearms, as well as carry their insurance with them whenever transporting them. If a gun owner’s piece goes off, due to an accident or careless act, killing or maiming one or more people, or damaging something of perceived value, the insurance would be there to cover those costs.
In a statement referenced in the Sacramento Bee, Skinner justified the experimental concept with this same comparison, saying, “Guns kill more people than cars. Yet gun owners are not required to carry liability insurance like car owners must. Why should taxpayers, survivors, families, employers, and communities bear the $280 billion annual cost of gun violence? It’s time for gun owners to shoulder their fair share.”