Gun control advocates are always quick to say the same thing: they aren’t looking to take away our firearms or means for self-defense. They simply want “common-sense gun safety measures.” Whatever that means.
That’s a narrative that’s been running rampant in San Jose, California since a shooting there. Last week, the San Jose City Council passed legislation that requires gun owners to purchase a firearm insurance policy (which no insurer sells) and pay an annual gun ownership fee.
Although the city has yet to determine precisely what that fee will be, officials have made one thing clear: gun owners will have to cough up the dough or their firearms will be confiscated.
From Fox Business:
While the council directed staffers to draft up the law for a final September vote, the dollar amount on the new tax for gun owners has not yet been determined. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo suggested the new annual fine will likely be “a couple dozen dollars,” and claimed insurers assured the city that firearms owners adding gun liability coverage to existing policies would cost the affected citizens little or nothing.
But with no official registry of gun owners either locally or federally, officials recognized that enforcement of the forthcoming taxes and insurance requirements could be difficult if not impossible. So, they said they would authorize any law enforcement officers to confiscate the firearms of any gun owner they stumble upon who does not provide proof that they have complied.
Huh. New gun sales in California are registered with the state. But the registration law that went into effect in 2018 didn’t cover firearms that were already owned…other than “assault weapons.” And Californians decided they had no intention of complying with even that requirement.
Registration has been outlawed at the federal level precisely so that law enforcement agencies and government officials are unable to confiscate firearms. But, as Fox Business pointed out, some type of list would have to be developed in order for San Jose to enforce its new insurance requirement…assuming the ordinance survives the impending court challenges that will surely follow.
What’s scary is the city could easily start with a list of concealed carry license holders and crosscheck that to see who paid the new fee. Those who have a permit, but haven’t paid the yet-to-be-determined fee would be easy targets for San Jose’s confiscation squad.
This is precisely why Second Amendment supporters oppose registries and why gun rights groups fought so hard for a ban at the federal level. If there’s a list of guns and gun owners, the government will — at some point — take advantage of that information. It’s just a matter of when.