Submitted Photo Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-East Norriton, is pictured speaking before a September rally in Harirsburg.

No state in the country has yet required liability ownership in order to own a weapon.

State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-East Norriton, is proposing to do just that by circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation that would require liability insurance for gun owners. The bill is unlikely to make it through the state Legislature.

“Firearm owners should shoulder some responsibility for these costs,” Cappelletti wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum. “The risk of owning guns, particularly certain kinds of guns and firearms owned irresponsibly, should be reflected in the cost to gun owners. The General Assembly has not acted on sensible firearms legislation, but insurers can incentivize gun owners to implement safety measures, like using gun safes, installing trigger locks, and taking gun safety courses. We require motorists to carry automobile insurance, and the insurance industry appropriately encourages and rewards safe driver behavior.”

Other states’ gun owners may soon have to carry such insurance. Legislation was introduced in the California state Senate earlier this year that would require gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover the negligent or accidental use of their firearms. A similar bill (S.4946) was introduced in the New York state Senate during the last legislative session by Sen. Kevin Parker, D-Brooklyn, though it didn’t advance out of committee before the end of the legislative session.

In January, the Silicon Valley city of San Jose approved what’s believed to be the first such insurance requirement in the United States.

California Sen. Nancy Skinner wants to amend an existing bill on another topic to allow gun owners to be held civilly liable if their firearms are used to cause property damage, injury or death. Her legislation would also require gun owners to have insurance that covers loses or damages from the negligent or accidental use of their firearm. And they would have to keep proof of insurance with their firearm and show it to police if they are stopped for some reason.

Gun ownership groups in California have said they don’t think an insurance company will cover the misuse of a firearm, while Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said the liability insurance requirement would be an infringement on gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.

“We don’t believe you can put precursors on the exercising of a constitutional right,” Paredes said to the Associated Press.. “By requiring somebody to get insurance in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, that ceases to make it a right.”