By: José Niño
It goes without saying that California is basically a lost cause for the right to bear arms. As the days go by, the state’s very own cities try to one-up its state assembly by enacting gun control measures that could compete with draconian European mandates.
Let’s take a look at San Jose, California. Last week, its city council unanimously voted in favor of imposing a yearly tax and mandatory insurance on gun owners living in the city.
Although the exact fee for owning a gun in San Jose is still up in the air, city officials revealed that anyone who doesn’t comply with the ordinances will have their weapons confiscated.
Breck Dumas of Fox Business reported that the purpose of this tax is “to try to recoup the cost of responding to gun incidents such as shootings and deaths.”
The new anti-gun measures were passed in response to a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employee killing nine co-workers at a San Jose railyard back on May 26.
San Jose’s decision to pass new mandatory fees on gun owners represents a blatant infringement on lawful citizens’ right to bear arms. An activity that is supposedly a right should not be subject to government interference.
As for stopping crime, criminals will only turn to the black market even more now, while the lawful citizens they generally prey on will be at a disadvantage. Some of the poorer segments of San Jose’s population will be completely priced out of gun ownership altogether. This does not bode well for the public safety of San Jose residents.
After all, the Bay Area is already known for its lax criminal justice policies. Add in civilian disarmament policies that render the lawful defenseless against criminals, and you have a recipe for a crime surge.
San Jose’s latest anti-gun measures are additional signs that California is a growing anti-gun fortress. The only options left for gun owners in the Golden State are to flee to the interior and carve out Second Amendment sanctuary zones in defiance of the state government or leave the state altogether and settle down in a more pro-gun state.
No matter how they slice it, Californians have no easy options for fixing their current gun control predicament.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.