Last time I lived in the South, my next door neighbors ignored a mandatory hurricane evacuation, so they could protect their ~$100k worth of guns from burglars, which were purchased to protect them from burglars. Seemed pretty funny at the time.
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The difference is that we donât have a constitutional right to cars like we do with guns. Requiring insurance and a license and registration could easily be seen as infringements on the right to keep and bear arms. So I donât think thatâs workable within the framework of the second amendment.
And as SpaceLobster pointed out, even without the second amendment standing in the way, registration is not really workable. Canada tried it already.
I agree that if you go to Europe and your gun is used to kill someone, it is partially your fault, morally.
But also, I think the idea of holding gun-owners in any way responsible takes a backseat to handing out high-velocity rifles and 30-round mags like lollipops to 4chan obsessed teens.
Iâve seen other discussions on mandatory insurance proposals for guns. It requires a lot of elucidation to produce something practical and enforceable, and basically boils down to an attempt to deter gun ownership by making it expensive.
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No-fault car insurance sounds somewhat similar to me in this respect. It is basically a tax that deters car ownership.
In your mind, what is gun insurance? Iâm at a loss to come up with an eligible claim. Not even sure what form the benefit is; cash, immunity from prosecution, ammo discounts?
Help me out here.
Not really (unless, perhaps, it was disabled with a trigger lock or some similar measure).
Yeah, I think raising the age of gun ownership would have a better result. Most (all?) of these mass shooting sprees involve guns that were not stolen.
Unsecured guns in the home are most likely to be used against the owner or the ownerâs family, which is tragic, but a different problem than mass shootings.
I canât speak for all the wacky proposals, but there are existing programs that will pay your legal expenses if you use your gun for self-defense. Caveats:
Most will perform their own cursory review of your case and decide whether to provide services. For example, if you went and robbed a bank, youâre on your own.
Some require you to use their lawyers.
Some require you to front all your own expenses, and only pay after youâve been acquitted.
Treatment of civil liability varies. The popular wisdom is, if you shoot an intruder, youâd better kill him, or he will lie about the circumstances and sue you for injuries.
WellllllllllllllllâŚ
Some of these mass shootings have involved adults loaning/sharing weapons with their relatives.
Most have involved the teen buying the guns legally.
If we imagine that these mass shootings resulted in multi-million lawsuits, that an insurance company had to pay-out to victims families. Then those insurance companies might use underwriting, pricing, and contracts to limit who gets to play with which guns and how they get shared.
Basically insurance companies would be the nannies. Which is kind of true of how we do cars. In theory, a teenager buying or borrowing an AR-15 would be like a teenager buying or borrowing your sports-car.
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death penalty if you let minors have access to guns, similar to if you let them have/steal drugs
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Oh, if you willingly share your gun with another person, thatâs pretty different from if it was locked inside your home and a stranger stole it.
Yes, the discussion was around theft. But the overall idea was to use insurance as a mechanism. And insurance companies have lots to say about sharing too.
The problem with the idea of letting insurers be the nannies is the Second Amendment.
It works for cars, because there isnât a constitutionally enumerated right to drive. However, the presence of the 2A would (I think) constrain the government to clarifying the potential for liability. Saying that a person canât assume that potential liability on their own could plausibly be viewed as infringement of the right.
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Yeah, ideally it would be nice. In practice, itâs impossible and youâll get shot by a 14 year old with AR-15 for thinking it.
Happy to let them assume ALL the liabilities
Yeah, but youâve been calling for new liabilities.
which falls under all liabilities
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One other complication is that some of the more popular programs providing such coverage arenât technically âinsuranceâ. Instead, theyâre clubs or subscriptions for legal services, which arguably/conveniently circumvents the potential for scrutiny by state insurance regulation, or the question of whether the rates charged are ânot excessiveâ.
I donât think a gun registry would pass the current US Supreme Court. But, I have to ask, what made it a disaster?