In my recent email to Sen. Angus King, I wrote how disappointed I am with his refusal to support a ban on assault weapons, and I suggested he consider insurance.
We already regulate another dangerous instrumentality: the automobile. By requiring mandatory safety features, such as seat belts (in 1969) and airbags (in 1998), we reduced the number of automobile deaths from over 53,000 in 1969 to something over 32,000 in 2013, even while the population increased 50% during that same period. We also require drivers to be licensed, to pass a test and to carry insurance. And we require vehicle owners to pay an excise tax each year.
If gun owners were required to carry insurance against the risk that their gun might injure someone accidentally, or if lost or stolen and subsequently used in a crime, and required to pay an excise tax of even a few dollars a year, they would have a powerful incentive to: 1. keep their guns stored securely and 2. immediately report them if lost or stolen.
Insurance companies would have an incentive to offer lower rates to owners who were certified in gun safety every year and to refuse insurance to someone whose gun was used to injure or kill someone through improper use or in a criminal act after the owner failed to report it missing or stolen.
Philip Moss
Cape Elizabeth
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