[HN Gopher] San Jose passes first US law that gun owners need li...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       San Jose passes first US law that gun owners need liability
       insurance/annual fee
        
       Author : MilnerRoute
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2022-01-26 18:45 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cbsnews.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cbsnews.com)
        
       | biomcgary wrote:
       | "The council also voted to require gun owners to pay an estimated
       | $25 fee, which would be collected by a yet-to-be-named nonprofit
       | and doled out to community groups to be used for firearm safety
       | education and training, suicide prevention and domestic violence
       | and mental health services."
       | 
       | I find these government-NGO partnerships disturbing. The
       | government mandates a tax, but a private entity collects it and
       | decides who spends it? Elected officials really like to avoid
       | responsibility for the consequences of their votes.
        
         | earleybird wrote:
         | Otherwise known as PPP, Public Private Partnerships. Dubious in
         | all the ways you might imagine.
        
           | djbebs wrote:
           | That's not what this is. This is a long established concept
           | known as tax farming.
        
       | CobaltFire wrote:
       | Regardless of my stance on gun rights, this is means testing
       | equivalent to a Poll Tax and is unlikely to stand up to a court
       | challenge.
       | 
       | If we want gun rights reform you have to take it to the
       | Constitution; anything after that erodes the rest of the rights
       | by creating case law that a right can be limited in some way by
       | some level of the gov.
        
       | throwawaymanbot wrote:
        
       | mrtweetyhack wrote:
        
       | s1artibartfast wrote:
       | I am always frustrated how news article never include the actual
       | law/ordinance/mandate they are reporting on.
       | 
       | I believe this is it:
       | 
       | https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10408009&GUID=...
       | 
       | Found here:
       | 
       | https://sanjose.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=53797...
        
         | s1artibartfast wrote:
         | Follow up, it is hard to imagine this standing up to legal
         | challenges and is also hard to imagine the projected 1 million
         | revenue will offset the legal costs
        
           | mullingitover wrote:
           | It's not too hard - the Supreme Court hasn't immediately
           | dismissed the Texas "nullify the constitution with this one
           | weird trick" approach of deputizing random citizens to end-
           | run around civil rights using civil lawsuits.
        
             | s1artibartfast wrote:
             | This is a pretty common misunderstanding of the ruling.
             | 
             | The Court ruled that the abortion clinics' lawsuits against
             | certain state officials may proceed as they have direct
             | involvement in the enforcement of the law, while the
             | lawsuits against other state officials like judges should
             | be dismissed due to their lack of involvement in
             | enforcement.
        
               | joshuamorton wrote:
               | You're replying to a misunderstanding they didn't make.
               | 
               | > The Court ruled that the abortion clinics' lawsuits
               | against certain state officials may proceed as they have
               | direct involvement in the enforcement of the law,
               | 
               | Yes, but in doing so, they didn't enjoin enforcement of
               | the law until the SC hearing, which is to say that the
               | court "hasn't immediately dismissed the Texas "nullify
               | the constitution with this one weird trick" approach of
               | deputizing random citizens to end-run around civil rights
               | using civil lawsuits."
        
               | s1artibartfast wrote:
               | Fair, I can see reading of immediately dismissed as
               | meaning granting an injunction.
               | 
               | Edit:
               | 
               | but to be fair to the SCOTUS, they were being asked to
               | endorse a novel method of injunction, not barring a
               | party, but a shutdown of the court hearings, essentially
               | a new trick to counter texas' new trick
        
           | nostrademons wrote:
           | Last line of the article is that law firms have already lined
           | up to defend the law pro bono.
           | 
           | I suspect this is 2 parts political grandstanding and 1 part
           | test case, but it'll be interesting to see it play out in the
           | courts. The low dollar amount and revenue collected is
           | probably intentional, so that the lawyers can argue that it
           | doesn't pose an undue burden on gun owners and get the case
           | law precedent opening up the door to bigger taxes later.
        
           | aerostable_slug wrote:
           | But it will generate votes at taxpayer expense, and that's
           | all this virtue-signaling BS is meant to do.
        
         | bruceb wrote:
         | So many stories do this. I think it a feature not a bug, they
         | don't want readers leaving or making it too easy to fact check.
        
       | egberts1 wrote:
       | It's CBS News!
       | 
       | A premier authoritative journalistic reporting outfit that never
       | includes a citation (much less an URL link).
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-01-26 23:02 UTC)