Following San Jose’s lead, the California Senate is contemplating laws to require all gun house owners to hold legal responsibility insurance coverage to personal a gun.
Two state senators final week launched amended laws to require such insurance coverage for the negligent or unintentional discharge of a gun.
If SB 8 turns into regulation, California could be the primary state within the nation to enact such a regulation.
San Jose has a gun insurance coverage regulation, the primary such regulation within the nation. SB 8 will probably be modeled after San Jose regulation, which went into impact at first of this 12 months.
The amended Senate Invoice 8 was launched by Sens. Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland and Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, following the mass shootings throughout the state in January.
“Victims of gun violence and their households undergo extreme hurt — financial, psychological and bodily — however have little to no recourse to be compensated for that hurt,” Skinner mentioned in an announcement.
Skinner added, “Insurance coverage is the tactic our society makes use of to compensate these harmed by, for instance, automotive accidents, medical malpractice, or defective client merchandise. Requiring gun house owners to hold legal responsibility insurance coverage places the burden the place it must be — on the gun proprietor.”
Statewide, 31 folks have died this month in mass shootings which have occurred in Oakland, Half Moon Bay, Monterey Park and Goshen, in line with the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks the numbers. Twenty-four extra folks had been injured in these shootings, in line with the identical supply.
“This invoice is a commonsense strategy to enhance neighborhood security,” Blakespear mentioned. “Underneath present legal guidelines, gun violence victims and society at massive are those who are suffering the price of gun violence. This wants to vary.”
“Firearms are much like automobiles in that they’re inherently harmful and are in extensive circulation,” he mentioned. “If a automotive unintentionally causes harm to an individual or property, the insurance coverage coverage will compensate the sufferer. The identical strategy ought to apply to accidents brought on by weapons.”
The state plan could be like automotive insurance coverage, he mentioned. Gun house owners could be civilly accountable for property injury, harm or loss of life brought on by their gun. Gun house owners would additionally should have proof they personal the gun and preserve that proof with them. If requested by police, a gun proprietor must present the officer proof of insurance coverage.
Blakespear launched a model of SB 8 final 12 months. The most recent model of SB 8 will probably be like final 12 months’s SB 505, which was crafted by Skinner. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, may also be a principal creator of the newest model of SB 8.
