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“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”

The unofficial mantra of Second Amendment enthusiasts, those two sentences, comprising a total of seven words, sum up the abiding argument of the gun lobby: Regulating guns is wrongheaded because only criminals or otherwise irresponsible people use guns improperly, and such people won’t follow a gun law any better than they’d follow any other law.

One could make the same argument, though, about automobiles. Cars don’t kill people. Lousy/inattentive/drunk drivers kill people. And treating gun owners just as we treat car owners is the driving sentiment behind , Sen. Josh Green’s bill that would make personal liability insurance mandatory for all gun owners in Hawaii.

Green’s proposal is similar to bills moving forward in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York state and Los Angeles. All are premised on the idea that car owners are routinely required to carry insurance in case their vehicle injures someone.

Why shouldn’t we ask the same of gun owners, given that data released in late 2015 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that, “For the first time in more than 60 years, firearms and automobiles are killing Americans at an identical rate,” as in December?

Let’s be clear, though: While car deaths have been dropping over the last decade, gun deaths are rising. Between 2005 and 2015, here’s how many Americans were : 301,797.

Let that sink in for a moment.

More than 300,000 people were killed by guns in the past decade.

If you want an illustration of why reform measures such as this typically go nowhere, just Google the phrases “Josh Green” and “gun insurance.”

Everyone from the National Rifle Association to the influential right-wing blog TownHall.com to the National Gun Forum have taken aim at Green’s measure and the other four, calling them “clearly unconstitutional,” “just another example of liberals trying to further curtail Second Amendment freedoms” and worse, leaving little doubt of who’s controlling the message in this debate.

Green’s bill draws special ire from gun rights supporters because, in addition to making insurance mandatory, it would require gun owners to register their weapons with the state and renew the registration every five years. If there’s anything a Second Amendment fan hates more than gun regulation, it’s the government keeping track of his or her guns.

“The bill introduced by (Green) has been labeled as redundant since insurance companies would already cover the firearm-related incidents he fears that warrants the state to dragoon law-abiding citizens into buying liability policies for exercising their Second Amendment rights,” huffs TownHall.

The core of the argument against Green’s measure, though, is this: Owning a gun is a constitutionally protected right, while driving is a privilege. Requiring insurance to own a gun could have a chilling effect on the exercise of that right.

It’s an argument with a fatal flaw. If cost were a primary concern for the Second Amendment crowd, one would think they’d make the argument that guns should be given, free of charge, by the government to every law abiding citizen of these United States. Forcing individuals to actually purchase guns — not to mention the expensive bullets or shells they fire — would seem to have more of a chilling effect on exercising this constitutional right than insuring them.

Though other states have considered measures like Green’s — notably California, which failed to pass a similar bill in 2013 — no U.S. jurisdiction so far has passed such a law.

And we’re under no illusion that Hawaii will be the first. The bill has been referred to a joint review by two committees: the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs committee, chaired by Sen. Clarence Nishihara, and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health, chaired by Sen. Rosalyn Baker. With the clock running out on bills to have their first hearings scheduled, none has been set for .

But Green deserves special recognition for introducing the measure and taking the flak that always accompanies gun reform measures. As an emergency room physician on the Big Island, Green has personally witnessed the harm that guns can cause.

He concedes the bill is likely DOA this year; but he believes starting a dialogue on the issue at least sets Hawaii on an ultimate course for approval.

Explaining his motivation, Green offers a common sense response to the pro gun mantra noted above.

“I don’t want to take people’s guns away from them,” says Green, “but I want people to take full responsibility.”