A year after Gilroy shooting: San Jose mayor’s plan to require gun owners carry insurance is at a halt

A year after a gunman opened fire at the beloved Gilroy Garlic Festival, killing two San Jose children, little progress has been made on San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s plan for first-of-its-kind measure to curb gun violence.

The mayor’s proposed ordinance, which he unveiled just two weeks after the shooting in late July 2019, would require gun owners in the nation’s 10th largest city to either carry liability insurance or pay a fee to cover taxpayer costs — such as emergency response and medical care — associated with gun violence.

Liccardo’s novel idea gained widespread national media attention at the time — from the New York Times to CNN to the Washington Post. But just as episodes of gun violence can quickly fall from the news cycle and the public eye, in some ways, so has the mayor’s proposal.