SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – San Jose is moving forward with hefty fines for gun owners who break a new and strict firearm law, the first of its kind in the U.S.
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The legislation, passed by the city council in January, requires all San Jose gun owners to pay a $25 yearly fee, which will go towards harm reduction through a non-profit, as well as carry liability insurance.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has been a fierce advocate for the legislation since the Gilroy Garlic festival shooting in 2019. followed by the VTA shooting in May, 2021.
"There are a lot of gun-owning organizations that may not be happy about this measure, but I think we share a common ambition which is reducing the number of suicides, homicides and accidental shootings," Liccardo told KPIX.
"The likelihood of dying in a domestic violence incident is about five times higher if there's a gun in the home. So we want to make sure that occupants at home, where there's a gun, have access to these kinds of services. Gun safety classes, there are a host of things we can be doing," he added.
This week, the city council passed a measure which institutes fines for non-compliance with the new law.
The fines rise with each offense: the first costs $250, the second $500 and a third offense and beyond is $1000 dollars for not carrying insurance.
"That's illegal. They don't have any right to tax you to exercise a guaranteed right to the constitution," Christoper Stone, spokesperson for the National Foundation for Gun Rights, told KCBS Radio. The organization is part of a group who filed a federal lawsuit against the city on Tuesday night, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.
"From our perspective what San Jose is doing is conditioning the exercise of a bill of rights guarantee by forcing people to purchase insurance," he continued.
San Jose's law is being defended by a team of legal experts, national organizations and the law firm Chochet, Pietre and McCarthy, which has offered to represent the city pro-bono.
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