Maryland House Democrats introduced a controversial gun safety bill requiring gun owners to forfeit their ability to wear or carry without firearm liability insurance.
Introduced by Del. Terri Hill, D-Howard County, the legislation would prohibit the “wear or carry” of a gun anywhere in the state unless the individual has obtained a liability insurance policy of at least $300,000.
"A person may not wear or carry a firearm unless the person has obtained and it covered by liability insurance issued by an insurer authorized to do business in the State under the Insurance Article to cover claims for property damage, bodily injury, or death arising from an accident resulting from the person’s use or storage of a firearm or up to $300,000 for damages arising from the same incident, in addition to interest and costs,” the proposed Maryland legislation reads.
That’s not exactly right. You can’t require an unduly onerous burden on the exercise or enjoyment of a right. However, you can abridge rights for reasons which may demonstrate furtherance of a government interest at a given level, that level is dependent on the right being abridged and the mechanism of abridgement.
And I wonder what the monthly payment would be for $300k in insurance when the vast majority of guns are never being used outside gun ranges. Probably pretty cheap. And conceivably legal the same way SCOTUS decided Obamacare insurance mandates were, not by being a mandate but by having the punishment for not having insurance be a tax.
If it actually decently affordable I actually like this law as a good solution to the problem of guns being potentially very dangerous yet available to everyone, and it’s the same solution as car insurance. If you are using a thing that might cause a lot of damage, prove you can pay for any accidental damage you might cause.