By: Teresa Mull
San Jose endured a tragic shooting last month when Sam Cassidy killed nine co-workers and himself at the Valley Transportation Authority.
Now, the city is imposing new laws that will do nothing to stop further such shootings.
Beginning in September, gun stores will be required to record the audio and video of each gun sale that takes place.
CNN reports, “The City Council unanimously passed Mayor Sam Liccardo’s proposal, which he said will make it harder for straw sales to buyers barred from having weapons. The mayor didn’t mince words, saying he wants to slow all firearms sales.”
Just how recording gun sales would have stopped Cassidy – an angry employee with well-documented animosity toward his place of employment – was not addressed. Cassidy purchased his guns legally and registered them, and the “high-capacity” magazines he had on his person at the time of the shooting are illegal in California.
Either way, California’s ultra-restrictive gun control failed. Cassidy purchased his guns legally, because he wasn’t a criminal before he carried out his heinous crime. And the “control” on so-called “high-capacity” magazines failed, too, because Cassidy, like so many criminals, found a way around the law.
Our own Department of Justice has found that most criminals get their guns on the black market, through theft, or through straw purchases. What the recording of gun sales will do to stem violent gun crime is anyone’s guess.
San Jose isn’t done yet, either. According to CNN:
Later this year, the council is also expected to take up Liccardo’s proposal that would require gun owners to carry liability insurance and pay a fee to cover taxpayer costs associated with gun violence.
Teresa Mull is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.