The state of California and most of their larger city governments don’t care about your right to self-defense. They might give a little lip service to it, but it’s not something anyone in those governments thinks about too much.

Take the latest example, which comes from San Jose:

City residents who own guns will have to to lock them up when they leave home under a new law set to take effect in December.

The San Jose City Council approved the hotly-debated ordinance on a 6-5 vote late Tuesday, with some of the city’s elected leaders favoring stronger protections. The San Jose law is similar to safe-storage gun laws in San Francisco, Oakland, Sunnyvale and Berkeley. State law requires that guns be locked up or secured only in homes with young children.

The council vote came amid emotional testimony from some residents who feel it will tamp down gun violence. Louis Pandula choked up as he told city leaders about the worst day of his life: When his daughter was shot in the head six years ago by a fellow San Jose State student.

…

But other residents said the measure won’t stop gun violence. One man demonstrated how long it takes to disable a trigger lock from the podium — seconds, he said, that could cost someone’s life in an emergency.

“Not a single one of the tragedies described would have been prevented by this law,” said David Freedman. “The only real effect of this is making owning firearms a little more inconvenient and more expensive.”

The new law, proposed last year by Councilman Raul Peralez and former Councilman Ash Kalra, now a state Assemblyman, requires gun owners to secure firearms either in a gun safe or lock-box or with a trigger lock when they leave home in an effort to curb gun violence and suicides.

On the surface, this looks like nothing. After all, shouldn’t most people leave their guns locked up in a gun safe? Should firearms be locked up when not in use?

Not really. Personal defense firearms are rarely used except at the range, yet need to be accessible. Laws like this require gun owners to lock and unlock their weapons each and every time they leave the house and come home. You and I know the net result will be people simply leaving the guns locked up when they get home, just so they don’t have to fool with it.

Backers of this law are banking on the complacency of the average American.

Therein lies the problem, however. Because many will simply leave the gun locked up, that one chance in a million that they’ll need it to defend their life will be the one time in a million they’ll have trouble unlocking their gun. Adrenaline kills fine motor skills, the kind you need to manage a lock of almost any kind. Precious seconds tick away as you fumble with a key or the combination to a lock until…

Makers of these laws basically want to blame gun owners for their guns being stolen and used violently, or for someone getting hold of it and committing suicide. It’s funny how often these very same proponents of this law are the people who condemn any effort to encourage women concerned with rape to take their personal defense seriously. They call that victim blaming while engaging in the tactic themselves all the time.

Rich, isn’t it?