Federal Judge Reluctant to Stay San Jose Gun Owner Liability Law

A federal judge expressed skepticism Thursday about whether to preliminarily halt a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring San Jose, Calif., gun owners to carry liability insurance and pay a fee to an as-yet unnamed nonprofit.

The ordinance doesn’t mandate the city seize firearms for failure to pay the fee, said Judge Beth Labson Freeman of US District Court for the Northern District of California. With impoundment not on the table, “I think there’s a serious question as to whether the Second Amendment is even implicated here because this ordinance does not appear to me to regulate who can own a gun or ...