![]() Kochenburger, the law professor, says liability insurance could reduce gun violence by "leveraging insurers' ability to collect and analyze data into risk classifications," and to utilize risk-based pricing to encourage "safer gun purchases, storage and use." Insurance in other industries works in similar ways. He started it so homeowners "would come together to share the risks," the company said on its website and highlights the lengthy history insurance plays in American culture. In their amicus brief, Brady referenced the first property insurance company founded by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1752 to encourage homeowners to implement safety measures after a series of fires in the city. Proponents say that mandating liability insurance for gun owners harnesses long-held and trusted American ideas around the power of the market to tackle a uniquely American problem. "We're optimistic that many of these laws will ultimately be found constitutional, and we look forward to their taking effect." A uniquely American idea "The gun lobby's use of the courts to delay the implementation of life-saving gun violence prevention measures on a wide array of issues is extremely frustrating."īut she added the legal fight was worth having. "There is a gun violence crisis in this country, and it only gets worse each day," said Shira Lauren Feldman, legal counsel for Brady United, who filed amicus briefs for both New Jersey and San Jose. A gun rights organization filed suit in federal court in San Jose the same day the ordinance was passed. The city will distribute those fees to a non-profit which then will disburse the funds to programs designed to reduce gun violence. The law requires gun owners to buy insurance and pay a $25 fee. The municipality has yet to implement the mandate since it was sued in federal court by gun rights groups. Opponents say that mandated insurance coverage unconstitutionally regulates who can carry firearms and interferes with Second Amendment rights – basically the legal basis of Bumb's New Jersey ruling.Īn ordinance in San Jose, California, requiring gun owners to purchase liability insurance has also been mired in litigation since it was passed in 2022. ![]() Kochenburger filed a report to the court in the New Jersey case.īut gun rights advocates have fiercely opposed the idea and have used the court system successfully to block the measures. "Insurance companies can't tell us to do anything, but what they can do is to make decisions about whether they are going to insure us," Peter Kochenburger, a visiting law professor at the Southern University Law Center told CBS News. Mandating liability insurance has been proposed as a market-driven regulation for years, but the idea started to gain traction after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting that left 20 children dead.Īn insurance marketplace, proponents say, would ensure gun owners follow safe practices and avoid risky decisions in order to avoid paying high premiums or losing coverage, similar to the auto or health insurance model. More than 10,500 are deaths by suicide, and 118 children under 12 years old were killed by guns, according to the archive. There have been more than 18,600 firearm deaths this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. According to data gathered by CBS News, in 2023 so far there have been 276 mass shootings – more than double from five years ago. For years policymakers and legislators have been trying to figure out a solution to America's increasingly complex and entrenched gun violence problem.
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