A challenging and possibly quixotic response to the deadliest spate of mass shootings in U.S. history, California Governor Gavin Newsom is pursuing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would restrict gun ownership.
Frustrated by the country’s failure to adopt restrictions that polls show most Americans broadly support and a conservative Supreme Court that has rolled back gun laws, Newsom outlined his plan Thursday to pursue the amendment, seeded with money left over from his landslide 2022 reelection.
“This is a mechanism to address that despair,” Newsom told AWN in an interview before making his announcement through his Campaign for Democracy PAC. We’re tired of playing defence and giving up. We prefer a bottom-up, grassroots approach rather than a top-down one, so we’ll be taking the initiative here.
The Democratic governor has proposed a national ban on assault rifles and an increase in the minimum age to acquire a handgun from 18 to 21. He has also proposed universal background checks and a “reasonable” waiting period for all gun transactions.
Newsom admitted the enormous challenges of drafting the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. But his strategy is quintessentially Newsom: it’s meant to maximise publicity on an issue where Newsom believes American opinion is well ahead of government policy. In the interview, Newsom explained that the ongoing string of mass shootings, coupled with the judicial rollback of gun control laws, spurred him to take action on weapons. The aim, he explained, was to counteract “the echo chamber of despair out there today.”
According to a new analysis by The Associated Press and USA Today, the frequency of mass shootings in the United States is expected to rise to an all-time high in 2023, with an average of one per week.
With this initiative, California is in the vanguard of the movement to tighten limits on firearms. A nationwide process that needs the backing of 34 states to trigger a convention will be launched by Newsom and the state legislature in Sacramento. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) and Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) will likely introduce the bill in the California legislature, where it will receive support from a wide variety of gun-control advocacy organisations.
“This initiative will literally be a catalyst for other states to follow,” said Wahab, leader of the state Senate’s public safety committee and a victim of gun violence herself.
Wahab was placed in foster care after the deaths of her biological parents. She said she hopes that victims would be at the forefront of the discussion, and she suggested that the discussion may resume in California.
Whether a person identifies as Republican, Democrat, or independent makes no difference when it comes to being a victim of gun violence in the United States. She cried out, “Their kids are getting shot to death.” That’s it; we’re done.
It would be extremely challenging to gain the support of the remaining 33 states. Twenty state legislative chambers are now under Democratic control. But Newsom, who has crusaded against the gun industry for years and reaped political benefits in a state where voters broadly support strong curbs on firearms, has seeded his political committee with $10 million and spent time on the national stage trolling Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas.
Newsom’s advocacy for a 2016 ballot campaign to regulate firearms sales prepared the framework for his subsequent race for governor. As governor, he has authorised the passage of legislation to ban the sale of “ghost guns,” prohibit the marketing of firearms to minors, and limit access to certain weapons for those under the age of 21.
Additionally, he has exploited these themes to dive headfirst into controversial national issues. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision upholding a Texas statute allowing citizens to sue abortion providers, Newsom campaigned for a measure allowing California residents to sue illicit gun distributors. The legal reckoning Newsom had hoped for had finally begun: California Governor Gavin Newsom hailed the federal court who blocked his state’s bill last year for putting Texas’s plan in jeopardy as well.
The state’s ability to enact laws may be hampered by greater legal headwinds, though. Newsom’s ammunition ballot initiative, the ban on high-capacity magazines, and the ban on assault weapons in California have all been challenged in light of the Supreme Court’s expansive reading of the Second Amendment.
Newsom argued that the courts are acting as another seemingly insurmountable obstacle for new reforms, even if Congress chose to impose some of the limits he is pursuing. “They’re literally throwing out all the progress many of us have made in these blue states,” he remarked.
According to Newsom, his current plan was inspired by the 17th Amendment, which shifted the balance of power between the states and the federal government by instituting popular elections of U.S. senators in 1913 rather than having them picked by legislators.
He was guarded about its potential, but he did say that a sustained spate of mass murder would eventually sway those who want to see real change. I think people are at a breaking point in this country and you may see this accelerate in a fairly profound and pronounced way if we reach the threshold of these mass shootings and have another few dozen of these in the next year or two.
I don’t know what the hell else to do,” Newsom said, meaning that he didn’t have any radical ideas to offer. I can’t think of anything else that would work.
I don’t mean to sound overly political or patronising or maudlin. But I can’t take it anymore, man; I’ve got four kids,” Newsom said. Even going to school is more dangerous than, say, taking your kids to the mall, the movies or a birthday party today. And I’ll have to talk to them about it. To put it mildly, this is completely ridiculous. It’s completely bonkers. As for the largest and craziest thing we can do, it’s the same old nonsense and finger pointing. Let’s give it a go, shall we?
