https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Jose-to-require-gun-owners-to-compensate-16283422.php Skip to main content Currently Reading San Jose plans to be first U.S. city requiring owners of firearms to pay back taxpayers for gun violence * Subscribe Subscribe * e-edition * Sign In * [ ] * Subscribe * About Us + Newsroom News + Newsletters + Store + Season of Sharing + Terms of Use + Privacy Notice + Do Not Sell My Info + Advertise With Us * Bay Area + Data + San Francisco + Bay Area + Coronavirus + Crime + Wildfires + Obituaries * Sports + Olympics + Giants + Warriors + 49ers + A's + Sharks + High School + College * Politics + Recall Election * Tech + VisionSF * US & World * Opinion * Datebook + Movies & TV + Music + Theater + Art & Exhibits + Dance + Classical + Books + Festivals + Bad Reporter * Food + Top Restaurants + Inside Scoop + Restaurants + Recipes + NorCal Brewery Map + Beer & Wine * Travel * Vault: Archive + Chronicle Covers + Our San Francisco + From the Archive + Portals of the Past + Archives Search * Podcasts + The Doodler + Extra Spicy + Fifth & Mission + Total SF + It's All Political + A's Plus + Warriors Off Court + Giants Splash * In-Depth * Real Estate + Find a Home * Membership + About Membership + Exclusive offers + Join Now + e-edition + App + Manage my account * Comics & Puzzles + Quizzes Most Popular * Tourists crowd onto the ferry to Alcatraz Island from Pier 39 on the first day of lifted COVID-19 restrictions in San Francisco, Calif. 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No need for now to mask up indoors again, California says Bay Area San Jose plans to be first U.S. city requiring owners of firearms to pay back taxpayers for gun violence Bob Egelko, Nora Mishanec June 30, 2021Updated: June 30, 2021 3:36 p.m. Facebook Twitter Email Comments 2 A girl holds a sign as people attend a vigil for the victims of a shooting at San Jose City Hall. The city has passed an ordinance that requires gun owners to compensate taxpayers for gun violence.1of2 A girl holds a sign as people attend a vigil for the victims of a shooting at San Jose City Hall. The city has passed an ordinance that requires gun owners to compensate taxpayers for gun violence. Amy Osborne/AFP via Getty ImagesShow MoreShow Less San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo: 2of2 San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo: "The Second Amendment certainly protects the right of every citizen to own a gun. It does not mandate that taxpayers subsidize that right." Josie Lepe/Special to the ChronicleShow MoreShow Less * * A month after a gunman killed nine workers at a rail yard in San Jose, the city is taking steps to become the first in the nation to require firearms owners to buy insurance and pay fees to relieve taxpayers of the costs of responding to gun violence. The San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to draft an ordinance that would order gun owners in the city to obtain insurance and pay an annual fee to subsidize police responses, ambulances, medical treatment and other municipal expenses related to shootings, injuries and deaths. The amount of the fee hasn't been determined, but Mayor Sam Liccardo said Wednesday it would probably be "a couple dozen dollars" and would not be charged to those who could not afford it. He said insurers have advised the city that including gun coverage on their policies would add little or nothing to typical premium costs. The Pacific Institute on Research and Evaluation has issued a preliminary report estimating that gun-related homicides, suicides and other shootings cost San Jose around $63 million annually. The city will await the institute's final report, due this fall, before calculating its fees. "The Second Amendment certainly protects the right of every citizen to own a gun," Liccardo told reporters. "It does not mandate that taxpayers subsidize that right." The Bay Area's best journalism, sent every weekday morning Read more stories like this in the Bay Briefing newsletter. SIGN UP A pro-gun group immediately promised a court challenge. More for you * Bay Area They survived mass shootings. Years later, their journeys... By Shwanika Narayan and Kevin Fagan * Bay Area The allure of the AR-15: As judge overturns assault... By Matthias Gafni * Bay Area Federal judge overturns California's decades-old ban on... By Lauren Hernandez * Bay Area San Jose shooting: Multiple weapons, 22,000 rounds of... By Vanessa Arredondo, Aidin Vaziri, Lauren Hernandez, Michael Cabanatuan, Julie Johnson, Shwanika Narayan and Tal Kopan * Bay Area San Jose gunman a 'highly disgruntled' employee who... By Jill Tucker, Lauren Hepler and Sarah Ravani Both the insurance mandate and the fees violate the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, said the Firearms Policy Coalition. It said the fees would also "put lawful access to firearms out of reach of poor and underprivileged individuals in high-crime neighborhoods." But Stanford Law Professor John Donohue said the right to possess guns does not exempt owners from the resulting financial costs to the government, as long as the city is careful in calculating them. "I have the right to swing my arm freely but I should pay if it hits my neighbor in the face," Donohue said. "With 400,000 guns stolen every year, the good guys do a lot to arm the bad guys, so they should pay for their contribution to the mayhem " Attorney Allison Anderman of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said the San Jose mandates seem comparable to fees associated with gun background checks and permits that courts have upheld. On the other hand, said UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler, "there are some potential problems with requiring insurance for the exercise of a constitutional right, and I'd guess the Supreme Court would ultimately be hostile to this measure." Liccardo said San Jose should refrain from spending any of the fee revenue until legal challenges to the ordinance were resolved. On May 26, Samuel Cassidy, a 57-year-old worker at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard in San Jose, fatally shot nine co-workers before killing himself. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Bay Area history. While the San Jose City Council voted to make the insurance payments and fees mandatory, the city cannot directly contact gun owners to enforce compliance because it has no gun registry or other means of locating the owners, Liccardo said. Find a Home Where to live in the Bay Area Moving? Our guide lets you search dozens of cities, towns and neighborhoods to find the one that's right for you. Instead, said Rachel Davis, a spokeswoman for the mayor, gun owners would be expected to learn of the new requirements through news coverage, social media and City Council proceedings. They would then pay the fees through a city website, increase their insurance coverage and print compliance forms to carry with them. Under the ordinance, police who encounter gun owners lacking proof of compliance will be authorized to confiscate the weapons. "Crooks aren't going to follow this law," Liccardo told reporters. "When those crooks are confronted by police and a gun is identified, and if they haven't paid the fee or insurance, it's a lawful basis for seizure of that gun." Likewise, he said, when officers respond to a domestic violence call, they ask if anyone has a gun and, under the ordinance, will seize it if the owner has not complied with the new requirements. "We can get to guns the moment that the risk is greatest," the mayor said. At Tuesday night's meeting, Councilmember Maya Esparza said she supported the liability insurance and fee requirements but was concerned about the prospect of warrantless searches on gun owners, which she called a "giant red flag." In response, Liccardo said gun owners found in violation of the ordinances would have their weapons seized, but that police officers would "not engage in extensive searches beyond their ordinary duties." Bob Egelko and Nora Mishanec are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: abegelko@sfchronicle.com, nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko @NMishanec Fifth & Mission The Chronicle's flagship news podcast. Listen and subscribe on your favorite app. Click the player below for the latest episode. * Find a Home Where to live in the Bay Area Moving? Our guide lets you search dozens of cities, towns and neighborhoods to find the one that's right for you. Written By Bob Egelko Reach Bob on Bob Egelko has been a reporter since June 1970. He spent 30 years with the Associated Press, covering news, politics and occasionally sports in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, and legal affairs in San Francisco from 1984 onward. He worked for the San Francisco Examiner for five months in 2000, then joined The Chronicle in November 2000. His beat includes state and federal courts in California, the Supreme Court and the State Bar. He has a law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and is a member of the bar. Coverage has included the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the appointment of Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court and her removal by the voters, the death penalty in California and the battles over gay rights and same-sex marriage. Written By Nora Mishanec Reach Nora on Nora Mishanec is a Hearst fellow on the breaking news team at The San Francisco Chronicle. She comes to The Chronicle by way of Hudson, N.Y., where she was a reporter at The Register-Star, the nation's second-oldest newspaper. View Comments Top of the News * San Jose plans to require fun owners to pay back taxpayers for violence The San Jose City Council voted to draft an ordinance that would order city gun owners to buy insurance and pay an annual fee to subsidize police responses, ambulances, medical treatment and other... 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