Tag: gun control

Unconstitutional? CA bill would permit citizens to enforce weapons ban, sue gunmakers

In an attempt to skirt the U.S. Constitution and challenge the Supreme Court, a new bill in California would allow private citizens to go after gun makers in the same way Texas lets them target abortion providers.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed Friday letting private citizens in his state sue gun makers to stop them from selling assault weapons, comparing the bill to one in Texas that lets its residents sue abortion providers to stop the procedures.

At a news conference in Del Mar, Newsom said he thought the Texas law was wrong and that the Supreme Court’s decision in December to let it stay in effect while it goes through appeal was “absurd” and “outrageous”:

“But they opened up the door. They set the tone, tenor, the rules. And either we can be on the defense complaining about it or we can play by those rules. We are going to play by those rules.

“We’ll see how principled the U.S. Supreme Court is.”

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San Jose Mayor Threatens Gun Confiscation for Gun Owners Who Don’t Pay Gun Tax

In an interview with Slate, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo talked about confiscating firearms from people who do not pay the city’s new liability insurance mandate for gun owners.

As AWR Hawkins of Breitbart Newsnoted, San Jose’s city council passed the mandatory fee and liability insurance ordinance fees on January 25, 2022.

Per the Slate report, the city fee is $25. Liccardo was quoted in saying that the fees will go towards a foundation run by “Stanford professors, an epidemiologist who has been focused on gun harm, and nonprofit experts who understand domestic violence prevention programs, suicide prevention.”

Liccardo claimed that the ordinance mandating the fee is “civil,” as opposed to criminal in nature. The San Jose Mayor revealed, however, that failure to pay the fee will lead to the confiscation of the firearm.

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San Jose Mayor: Firearms Will Be Confiscated From Gun Owners Who Don’t Pay City Fee And ‘Liability Insurance’

San Jose’s city council passed a measure last month requiring gun owners to pay a $25 “harm reduction” fee and liability insurance or relinquish their firearms to the government, making the city the first in the nation to impose an annual fee on law-abiding, firearm owning citizens.

The city’s Democrat mayor, Sam Liccardo insists the new ordinance, allowing law enforcement officials to seize firearms from those who refuse to pay the fees, will ultimately reduce crime and establish “a new kind of framework for gun safety,  Slate reports.

Allowing law enforcement to seize firearms from those who refuse to pay the fee makes will ultimately reduce crime, the Liccardo told the publication.

“For example, there’s a bar brawl and they’re patting down everybody and someone’s got a gun. ‘Have you paid your fee? You have insurance?’ ‘No.’ OK, well, there’s an opportunity for us to remove the gun. And then when the gun owner comes back and demonstrates that they comply with the law and they’re a lawful gun owner, they get their gun back. But in the meantime, you’ve taken a gun out of a bar brawl. And that’s not a bad thing,” he argued.

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Biden admin announces crackdown on illegal ghost guns ahead of NYC visit

The Biden administration has announced plans to crack down on illegal ghost guns and firearms trafficking along the East Coast “iron pipeline” — just in time for the president’s visit to New York City on Thursday to discuss surging gun violence.

President Biden is expected to address the new effort when he and Attorney General Merrick Garland meet with Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul later Thursday.

Among the slew of measures is the Justice Department’s new National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative, which aims to clamp down on homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them.

The DOJ effort will prioritize bringing federal charges against people who use ghost guns, as well as those who sell or transfer guns used in violent crime.

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City Now Requires Gun Owners to Carry Liability Insurance, Conveniently Exempts Current, Former Cops

In what’s being touted as a first of its kind action in the country, gun owners in San Jose will soon be forced to purchase liability insurance and pay an annual fee for practicing their right to self defense. The City Council passed the resolution this week, and it is already being torn apart by those who can see past solving problems without government mandates.

“San Jose has an opportunity to become a model for the rest of the nation to invest in proven strategies to reduce gun violence, domestic violence and suicide and the many other preventable harms from firearms in our communities,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said at a news conference Monday.

But will requiring legal gun owners to buy insurance do anything at all to stop crimes or keep people safe? Not very likely. The City Council’s measure does nothing to address the problem of illegally obtained weapons that are stolen or purchased by criminals.

Despite this legislation coming forward as a reaction to the tragic mass shooting that took place at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard that left nine people dead last May, it does absolutely nothing to stop criminal gun violence. All it does is place a burden on the thousands of lawful gun owners in the city.

The mayor, who acted as a cheerleader for the legislation, even admitted this fact, saying, “this won’t stop mass shootings and keep bad people from committing violent crime.”

On top of liability insurance, legal gun owners will also be forced to pay an annual fee to the city of $25. While it may not seem like much, coupled with an expensive insurance policy, it could make lots of legal gun owners who are having trouble paying their bills, criminals for noncompliance.

Essentially, it is just another way for government to limit the ability of poor people to legally protect themselves.

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