Just weeks after the Bay Area’s deadliest mass shooting, San Jose city leaders on Tuesday approved a plan to videotape all gun sales.
The idea is to crack down on so-called “straw purchases,” when one person buys firearms for someone else who’s not supposed to have them.
Gun store owners have three months to start recording gun sales. They must keep the video for 30 days in case investigators need it for evidence.
Gun-rights advocates have called the plan unconstitutional, and the city is bracing for legal challenges. Councilman David Cohen said the city won’t back down on gun safety in the aftermath of last month’s deadly shooting at a VTA light rail yard.
"I'm excited that we're thinking of creative ideas here in San Jose," Cohen said. "That we're not scared, or shying away from this debate (and) that we're using the opportunity to try new things."
Most gun shops already have surveillance cameras running inside their stores. The new rule, which is part of Mayor Sam Liccardo’s 10-point plan that would also mandate gun owners carry liability insurance, requires stores to add audio to their recordings.
Under the new law, store workers must be trained to ask questions to determine if a customer is buying a firearm for someone else. City leaders said they want to prevent some of the estimated 30,000 “straw purchases” that happen across the country each year.
Samuel Cassidy, who’s suspected of killing nine people at a VTA rail yard last month, possessed three guns. All were legally obtained.
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