Opinion: Insurance as Punishment324 comments

If you can't force people to do what you want, force them to buy insurance: That seems to be the strategy of the liberal left in the Obama era. We refer not only to the ObamaCare health-insurance mandate but to the latest bright idea under consideration in mostly Democrat-dominated state capitals.

"Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would require California gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover damages or injuries caused by their weapons," FoxNews.com reports. The idea isn't brand new: "Bills have been offered unsuccessfully in Massachusetts and New York since at least 2003," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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But the idea has drawn added attention amid the inevitable delirium following a horrific crime involving firearms: "Similar bills have been introduced in other states after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. They include Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York.

"Gun-insurance mandates won't solve illegal gun possession or illegal gun use, and no form of regulation will bring an end to gun violence," writes political scientist H.L. Pohlman in a Hartford Courant op-ed. Yet strangely, Pohlman is a proponent of the idea. Essentially his argument is that it would encourage people to behave in desirable ways:

Rapid-fire weapons capable of mass casualties would require higher premiums than less-lethal firearms. Some gun owners would avoid the high rates by purchasing less-lethal weapons, decreasing over time the number of rapid-fire weapons and their accessories in America.Responsible gun ownership would increase. A weapon that is secured when not in use is less likely to be used in an illegal or harmful way. Requiring gun owners to carry theft insurance, for example, would provide an effective incentive for proper firearm storage.

Pohlman makes some unfounded assumptions here. For one thing, what makes him so sure that scary "assault rifles" (a term he doesn't use but seems to be hinting at in the first quoted sentence) would command higher liability premiums? FBI statistics show that handguns, not rifles, consistently account for a large majority of firearms homicides. (Hat tip: Tom Maguire.)

The idea that mandatory theft insurance "would provide an effective incentive for proper firearm storage" is a head-scratcher too. If anything, the incentive should work in the opposite direction, since theft insurance reduces the cost of having the insured object stolen. But think about it: You probably have theft insurance on your car, but does that make you any more or less likely to lock your car when you leave it unattended? Or do you lock your car because you don't want it stolen?

Advocates of mandatory gun insurance, like advocates of mandatory health insurance, liken it to auto insurance. Pohlman:

It is common for our society to throw the risk on the owner of a potentially harmful commodity. Motor vehicles, for example, must be registered and insured in case their use harms humans or property; and the thrill of driving a high-performance car comes with a higher insurance premium.

As with health insurance, the analogy is flawed, albeit for different reasons. States require auto insurance as a precondition not of ownership but of driving on public roads. Guns, by contrast, typically are kept in the home, and liability for accidents there is covered by homeowners insurance. "You must disclose to your insurer that you have firearms," according to the website of the 1st Alliance Insurance Agency:

Guns must be properly secured in order to get decent home insurance rates. Your home insurance company will likely favor gun owners who have safety locks and proper storage that helps keep the firearms out of the hands of children and other untrained individuals.

It would also be constitutionally suspect for the government to condition the exercise of one's rights under the Second Amendment on the purchase of insurance. Pohlman denies this:

Perhaps the chief virtue of mandated gun-owner insurance is that it is consistent with the Second Amendment. No one who can safely be entrusted with the type of gun that is protected by the Second Amendment will be prevented from owning that type of gun. Gun insurance does not take away our liberties; it merely requires gun owners to pay the social cost of the exercise of that liberty.

Perhaps one could successfully defend that position in court, but it seems to us far from an open-and-shut case. Large publishers typically carry insurance to cover the risk of libel. Does anyone think the First Amendment would permit a state to require that all individuals buy libel insurance before publishing a pamphlet or starting a blog?

In Pohlman's account of the virtuous incentives his insurance scheme would purportedly establish, he leaves out the most obvious: By burdening gun owners with an additional cost, it would encourage some to give up guns altogether. We suspect that the real goal here is to deter gun ownership or, failing that, to punish law-abiding gun owners. As for criminals, we doubt any of them will ever hesitate to use a gun because it is uninsured.

Match Game '13 "President Barack Obama's speeches have a familiar ring these days--no matter if it's guns, immigration or the budget," Politico reports:

Tout what he's already done. Say the public's in his corner. Demand Congress do something. Lament Washington dysfunction. Lay out his own plan. Avoid details. Urge voters to keep up the pressure. Warn it won't be easy. Bask in the applause.It's the fill-in-the-blank approach to selling a presidential agenda: same template, just adjusted for the topic.

In the fifth year of Obama's presidency, these guys are just noticing this? And where's Gene Rayburn when you need him? "Barack Obama is the first blank president."

Meanwhile, the New York Times's David Brooks relays a claim about Obama's rhetoric that we find hard to believe:

I've always assumed that people who frequently use words like "I," "me," and "mine" are probably more egotistical than people who don't.But as James Pennebaker of the University of Texas notes in his book, "The Secret Life of Pronouns," when people are feeling confident, they are focused on the task at hand, not on themselves. High status, confident people use fewer "I" words, not more.Pennebaker analyzed the Nixon tapes. Nixon used few "I" words early in his presidency, but used many more after the Watergate scandal ravaged his self-confidence. Rudy Giuliani used few "I" words through his mayoralty, but used many more later, during the two weeks when his cancer was diagnosed and his marriage dissolved. Barack Obama, a self-confident person, uses fewer "I" words than any other modern president.

We'd like to see the data behind that last assertion. The Nixon example leads us to wonder if Pennebaker is comparing apples and oranges. After all, so far as we know, there haven't been any White House tapes since Tricky Dick.

The Giuliani example also looks flawed. The publicizing of his cancer and marital dissolution--both personal traumas--would be sufficient to explain his surge of self-reference without reference to any ebb in his self-confidence.

#humblebrag CNN interviews Daniel Hernandez Jr., who has a new book out about his experience as a congressional intern, which was rather atypical:

On January�8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a "Congress on Your Corner" event in Tucson, Arizona, featuring U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Since he had some medical training, Hernandez ran toward the gunfire to tend to victims, realized Giffords was shot on the left side of her head and used his bare hands to keep her from losing more blood. .�.�. He's been credited with saving Giffords' life and recognized as a hero, although he rejects the title.

"Although he rejects the title," it appears in his title. His book is called "They Call Me a Hero: A Memoir of My Youth." We got a chuckle out of this exchange:

CNN: It's clear in the book that you aren't comfortable with the word "hero" or the attention, so what challenges did you come across when writing this book? Hernandez: You know, it's not easy writing a memoir when you don't like talking about yourself. (laughs) That was something I had to overcome quickly.

Let that be a lesson: If you aren't comfortable with attention and you don't like talking about yourself, write a memoir.

If You Can't Beat the High Cost of Living, Join It Washington Post columnist Matt Miller argues for raising the minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour:

It's no surprise that [Ralph] Nader, 78 years old and still fighting the good fight, worked with a couple of dozen liberal Democrats in Congress last year on a bill to lift the minimum to $10. That would still be below 1968's level, but it would represent a $5,000-plus raise for close to 30 million workers at or near the minimum today (it would also add $25 billion to gross domestic product, according to the Economic Policy Institute).

If you can make the economy grow just by raising the price of labor, presumably raising other costs would also work. But an increase of $2.75 an hour is kid stuff. Congress would probably get more bang for its buck by mandating a raise in the salaries of top executives, who make much more money.

And if this works for labor, surely raising other costs would help the economy too. Imagine how much the economy would grow if Congress enacted a law causing health-insurance premiums to skyrocket. Oh wait�.�.�.

Not Quite Getting the Concept

• "If men wish to deal with one another, they may do so only by means of reason: by discussion, persuasion and voluntary, uncoerced agreement."--Ayn Rand, "The Virtue of Selfishness," December 1963
• "Idaho Politician Proposes Making 'Atlas Shrugged' Required Reading"--headline, San Francisco Chronicle website, Feb.�6, 2013

We Blame George W. Bush "Blame Poland for Horsemeat Scandal, Irish Meat Company Says"--headline, FoxNews.com, Feb.�5

He's the Guy Who Looks Like Trayvon Martin and Isn't Allowed to Play Football "President's Son Leads Chadians Against Islamists in Mali"--headline, Reuters, Feb.�7

Foggy Bottom Phone Tag

• "Kerry Calls Foreign Officials in First Day on Job"--headline, Associated Press, Feb.�3
• "You Loved His Hat; He Wants You to Call Him"--headline, Patch.com (Medfield, Mass.), Feb.�7

And How's Bill Holding Up?

• "Chelsea Clinton: Hillary 'as Vibrant as Ever'�"--headline, MSNBC.com, Jan.�15
• "Tired Chelsea Hampered by Clueless Board"--headline, ESPN website, Feb.�5

Heckuva Job "LaHood: 'America Is One Big Pothole'�"--headline, TheHill.com, Feb.�6

Life Imitates the Onion

• "Congress Beginning to Suspect Senator Mark Warner Might Be Homeless"--headline, Onion, Aug.�12, 2009
• "Bob Menendez Spent Up to 87 Percent of Wealth Paying Back Donor"--headline, NationalJournal.com, Feb.�5, 2013

It's a Cookbook "Gov. Bob McDonnell Is on a Roll"--headline, Washington Post website, Feb.�7

Taxes Aren't the Only Thing That's High "Police Say People Smoking Pot, Doing Taxes at Clay H&R Block"--headline, Daily Mail (Charleston, W.Va.), Feb.�6

He Believes It Is Peace in Our Time "Chamberlain Receives Text Message From Youkilis"--headline, Associated Press, Feb.�5

What's Wrong With Iceberg Lettuce? "Online Shopping Replaces Malls as Economy Greens"--headline, The-American-Interest.com, Feb.�5

Bees Do It "�'Honey Sex': Israeli Health Ministry Warns Against Dangerous, Sweet Erotic Stimulant"--headline, Puffington Host, Feb.�4

Generalissimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead "Great Tits: Still Murderous, Rapacious, Flesh-Rending Predators!"--headline, Scientific American website, Feb.�6

The Lonely Lives of Scientists

• "Scientists Find Life in the Cold and Dark Under Antarctic Ice"--headline, New York Times, Feb.�7
• "Albatross Named Wisdom Astounds Scientists by Producing Chick at Age 62"--headline, Washington Post, Feb.�6

Neil Tyson Discovers the Upper East Side "Closest Earth-Like Planet 'Stroll Across Park'�"--headline, Associated Press, Feb.�7

Hey, Nobody's Perfect "Ex-Mistress of Banana Mogul Guilty of Lying to Grand Jury in Three-Way-Sex Coke Death"--headline, New York Post, Feb. 7

Hey, Kids! What Time Is It?

• "Time To Have Cross-Device Talk With Agency"--headline, MediaPost.com, Feb.�7
• "A Great Time to Be Gay? That Depends"--headline, Puffington Host, Feb.�6
• "Time to Start Junking the Jughandles"--headline, Courier News (Somerville, N.J.), Feb.�6

Questions Nobody Is Asking "The Changing Face of Hillary: Glamorous New Clinton Website Goes Live Days After She Leaves Secretary of State. So, About the 2016 Presidential Contest�.�.�.?"--headline, Daily Mail (London), Feb.�6

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking "Origins of 8 of the Strangest Place Names in Canada"--headline, MentalFloss.com, Feb.�5

Question and Answer

• "Redefining the Meaning of Success: Hillary Clinton's Next Great Challenge?"--headline, Puffington Host, Feb.�5
• "Hillary: A Lesson in Failure"--headline, Puffington Host, Feb.�5

Look Out Below!

• "Honey Boo Boo's Mom Drops 100 Lbs"--headline, New York Post, Feb.�6
• "Dick Morris Dropped by Fox News"--headline, Chicago Tribune, Feb.�6
• "U of R Bacteria Study Takes Poop to the Roof"--headline, CKOM-AM website (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), Feb.�6

Someone Set Up Us the Bomb

• "Sky Fall to Love Action"--headline, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb.�3
• "High School Show Pig Murder"--headline, KLFY-TV website (Lafayette, La.), Feb.�6

News of the Tautological "Hospice Use Increases, but Too Late to Help, says Brown University Study"--headline, San Jose Mercury News, Feb.�5

News You Can Use

• "How to Counteract a Racist Sexist Homophobic Moron"--headline, Puffington Host, Feb.�6
• "Mixing Alcohol With Diet Drinks May Get You More Intoxicated"--headline, CBSNews.com, Feb.�6

Bottom Story of the Day "Two Scouting Families; Opposite Views on Gay Ban"--headline, Associated Press, Feb.�6

Let's Move! "Squeezed by historic funding shortfalls, school districts across [California] in recent years have been illegally dipping into cafeteria funds meant to provide meals to poor students to pay other school expenses, according to a report released Wednesday," reports the Daily Breeze of Torrance:

The strongly worded report by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes identified the Los Angeles Unified School District as the biggest offender. LAUSD was among eight school districts across the state ordered to repay a total of $170 million to student meal programs."Perhaps more troubling, department officials candidly acknowledge they have no idea how big the problem may be and fear they may have uncovered only a hint of the ongoing abuse," the report states.About $158 million of the $170 million debt belongs to LAUSD, which allegedly shifted money from the cafeteria fund to pay for expenses such as lawn sprinklers and the salaries of employees at the district's television station.

On the other hand, just imagine how much worse the obesity crisis would have been if all that money had been spent on food instead.

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(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to John Sanders, Ed Lasky, Irene DeBlasio, Michael Segal, Bill King, Bob Acker, Richard Belzer, Don Hubschman, John Williamson, Paul Hughes, Kyle Kyllan, Bill Krieger, Zack Russ, Dennis Powell, Bruce Goldman, John Bobek, Michele Schiesser, Dan Kelly, Ethel Fenig, Rebecca Billings, Edward Himmelfarb, Mark Finkelstein, Herbert Sorock, Peter Iorio, Christopher Arfaa, Brian Warner, David Hallstrom, Steve Thompson, Brian McDonald, Dave Ceely, James Benenson and Philip Ellison. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)