Dave Truslow, a retired tech executive and firearms instructor from San Jose, Calif., recently began storing his collection of more than 100 guns outside of town to avoid a new city law requiring him to carry liability insurance for them.
“I decided that I did not want to be required to comply with this,” Mr. Truslow said of the law, which took effect on January 1.
San Jose’s law, the first of its kind in the country, requires gun owners in the city of nearly one million to have insurance that covers the costs of accidental gunshot injuries or deaths. The law does not mandate that policies cover criminal misuse of firearms.
After a series of mass shootings in the area, former Mayor Sam Liccardo pushed for the law. Mr. Liccardo, a Democrat who recently stepped down due to term limits, believes the law will eventually result in insurers offering lower premiums to gun owners who store and handle their firearms safely, similar to how auto insurers offer discounts for good driving.
“In the same way that insurance was a mechanism to dramatically improve road safety… insurance with guns could have the same effect,” Mr. Liccardo said.
Gun owners who oppose the law, including Mr. Truslow, say they have already taken precautions such as storing their firearms in safes. He believes that city officials should devote more time to combating gun violence.
Gun-control advocates filed lawsuits in response to the ordinance before it went into effect last year. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuits, but said that some of the claims could be refiled because the complaints were written before the United States Supreme Court decided the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case last summer.
In that case, the Supreme Court overturned New York’s ban on carrying concealed weapons in public, a decision that has since been used by judges to overturn several firearm restrictions.
As a result, gun-control advocates in state and local governments have sought new approaches that will stand up in court. California passed a law last year that allows individuals to sue gun manufacturers for violations of the state’s gun restrictions, modeled after a Texas law that allows private individuals to sue to enforce abortion restrictions.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law similar to San Jose’s insurance law in December, requiring at least $300,000 in insurance coverage for people with permits to carry guns in public.
The San Jose law applies to all gun owners, whether or not they carry their weapons in public.
The California Rifle & Pistol Association’s president, Chuck Michel, said his organization is preparing new legal challenges to San Jose on Second Amendment grounds.
“This is just a way to make owning a gun prohibitively expensive,” Mr. Michel said.
A request for comment was not returned by a city spokeswoman.
Advocates on both sides of America’s gun-control debate say they are keeping a close eye on the San Jose law. The success or failure of the measure could determine whether similar laws are implemented elsewhere.
A California state legislator has proposed legislation to make gun liability insurance mandatory statewide.
Most people should have no trouble obtaining the insurance required by San Jose, according to Janet Ruiz, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group. According to her, most homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies cover the type of liability described in the new law.
According to the institute, a few insurers offer standalone gun-liability policies, but the vast majority do not.
The law does not require San Jose police to proactively check whether people with firearms have insurance. However, gun owners, like drivers, will be required to carry proof of insurance with their firearms, he said.
He stated that officers could check if they responded to a domestic violence call and found a gun. Those who fail to comply face fines of up to $1,000.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accidental shootings accounted for 1% of all gun-related deaths in the United States in 2020. According to the CDC, the number of accidental shooting deaths increased in 2020 but has been decreasing for decades.