California is looking at becoming the first state in the nation to require gun owners to carry liability insurance. The bill is SB 8 and it was introduced by Democrat State Senators Catherine Blakespear and Nancy Skinner.
Blakespear and Skinner said their legislation came about after California saw three mass shootings within a couple of days of each other. January was particularly violent in the Golden State. Five incidents saw 27 deaths and 20 injuries.
SB 8 is modeled after a law the city of San Jose, California passed last year. Skinner said if the bill passes, weapons owners will need insurance for negligent or accidental incidents, or both.
“Victims of gun violence and their families suffer severe harm — economic, mental and physical — but have little to no recourse to be compensated for that harm. Insurance is the method our society uses to compensate those harmed by, for example, car accidents, medical malpractice, or faulty consumer products,” Skinner said. “Requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance puts the burden where it should be — on the gun owner.”
Skinner said under the proposal gun insurance would work almost the same way auto insurance works. A gun owner will be liable if their weapon causes property damage, injury or death.
The law — again, if passed, and not amended — will make a gun owner have a plan to cover those losses and to keep proof of insurance with the firearm at all times.
They must produce that proof of insurance if asked by police if they are detained for any reason.
“Gun violence costs our country over $280 billion a year. SB 8 will ensure that gun owners — not victims and their families — shoulder their fair share of that burden,” Senator Skinner said.
Source link: CBS News — https://cbsn.ws/3WTNjag
