New Rules for Gun Sellers in Mountain View

[Nomad]

Attention, firearm sellers in Mountain View! There are some fresh rules on the horizon that you should know about. The City Council has given the green light to two new safety laws for guns. First of all, you'll need a local permit and insurance that covers at least $1 million per incident. You've got 90 days to get in line with this once it kicks in. Secondly, selling guns and bullets from homes is a no-go, and you've got a year to follow these new location rules. Even though there was talk about covering larger areas for these new permits, that didn't happen. These changes start 30 days after they're officially approved.

Find detail here

 

[Jake]

I am for this. But does this mean if you're selling guns you need to sell at a certain location? Can you explain this more? Does it mean you need to be at a gun store or place that allows the sale of guns?

Also, how much does this insurance cost? If it's to cover $1M per incident, how much will this insurance cost people?

 

[W3 Planning and Research]

I am not for this, but it is not a surprise in California. They just made dozens of businesses illegal because they were selling firearms from their homes. This is a common occurrence to sell firearms from home based businesses and BATF has no problems with this at all. However to take away a permit from someone and make their activity illegal overnight is a taking under the constitution. What they should be looking at is a legal non-conforming status for those home based businesses to stop FUTURE home based sales, but to make your law abiding citizens criminals overnight is inexcusable. The homes selling these firearms as licensed dealers are no more dangerous than the brick and mortar based stores. Home based firearms sales is not the problem at all, it is the unregulated firearms sales that are the problem.

 

[Korner6]

I am for this. But does this mean if you're selling guns you need to sell at a certain location? Can you explain this more? Does it mean you need to be at a gun store or place that allows the sale of guns?

Also, how much does this insurance cost? If it's to cover $1M per incident, how much will this insurance cost people?

Insurance for homeowners to cover $1M isn't as costly as you might think. When I was running a business out of my house, I chose to get insurance in case a customer slipped on the ice in the winter. It is better to have insurance than getting sued. I don't remember the exact cost of the insurance, but it was manageable. So it's best for people to follow through and get the insurance, although I'm not sure why it needs to be a law.

 

[linux.poet]

I think that the ban on home gun sellers is meant to ensure that background checks are performed on each new gun sale. However, this is the wrong way to go about it. The home gun sellers will still sell anyway, just under the table with even less background checks being done than ever before. A better law would have been to mandate home gun sellers to do background checks on their customers.

 

[Eric]

I think that the ban on home gun sellers is meant to ensure that background checks are performed on each new gun sale. However, this is the wrong way to go about it. The home gun sellers will still sell anyway, just under the table with even less background checks being done than ever before. A better law would have been to mandate home gun sellers to do background checks on their customers.

Good to see you back here, @linux.poet. Having never purchased a gun, I'm a bit out of my element here, but my understanding is that background checks are conducted via phone or email using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Because the process is 100% electronic, I wouldn't think there'd be any disadvantages to background checks conducted from home-based businesses versus brick-and-mortar ones, but maybe there's something about home-based businesses that make the process slippier and non-compliance more likely?

My best guess is that the prohibition is simply a reflection of what the city considers appropriate for maintaining the character and safety of residentially zoned neighborhoods. Whether home-based gun dealers have second amendment-protected rights that supersede restrictions set by local zoning ordinances is perhaps a bigger question that can only be answered by the courts.

 

[Debashis]

These new safety laws for firearm sellers in Mountain View seem reasonable and necessary. Permitting and insurance requirements will help ensure responsible sales, while regulating location restrictions makes sense for public safety.