By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched an effort to make his restrictive gun control agenda the law of the land by proposing a constitutional amendment mandating such things as universal background checks, a waiting period on purchases, setting the minimum age for purchase at 21, and prohibiting citizens from purchasing so-called “assault weapons.”
Perhaps Fox News described it thusly: “California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to change the Constitution to curb gun rights.”
The proposal brought a quick reaction from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
“Newsom’s proposal reeks of infringement on Second Amendment rights,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “He wants gun controls permanently enshrined, while claiming these measures ‘will respect the country’s gun-owning tradition protected by the Second Amendment.’ That is so self-contradictory it is laughable. If he truly respected this nation’s tradition of private gun ownership, he wouldn’t attack it by pushing this nonsense.”
Newsom spells it all out in an announcement released Thursday morning. He also appeared in an interview with NBC’s TODAY program.
Newsom, a career anti-gunner, asserted, “Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution. So today, I’m proposing the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution to do just that. The 28th Amendment will enshrine in the Constitution common sense gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and gun owners overwhelmingly support – while leaving the 2nd Amendment unchanged and respecting America’s gun-owning tradition including universal background checks, raising the firearm purchase age to 21, instituting a firearm purchase waiting period, and barring the civilian purchase of assault weapons.”
According to Newsom’s announcement, “Additionally, the 28th Amendment will affirm Congress, states, and local governments can enact additional common-sense gun safety regulations that save lives.”
While the Democrat governor insists his proposed amendment will “respect the country’s gun-owning tradition protected by the Second Amendment but create common-sense safety measures,” it appears to do exactly the opposite. The tenets could easily be considered “infringements,” which are not allowed under the Second Amendment.
As spelled out in Newsom’s announcement, “The 28th Amendment will permanently enshrine four broadly supported gun safety principles into the U.S. Constitution:
- Raising the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21;
- Mandating universal background checks to prevent truly dangerous people from purchasing a gun that could be used in a crime;
- Instituting a reasonable waiting period for all gun purchases; and
- Barring civilian purchase of assault weapons that serve no other purpose than to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time – weapons of war our nation’s founders never foresaw.
“Newsom’s announcement claims these are all ‘common sense’ measures, but there’s nothing sensible at all in this scheme” CCRKBA’s Gottlieb said. “This is a thinly-disguised effort to repeal the Second Amendment by making it constitutionally allowable to infringe upon and impair the exercise of a fundamental right Americans have enjoyed for more than 230 years.”
The National Rifle Association also responded to Newsom’s proposal, calling it a “publicity stunt (that) once again shows that his unhinged contempt for the right to self-defense has no bounds,” according to Fox News.
Likewise, Gottlieb observed, “There is nothing in his proposal about holding criminals accountable or protecting the right of self-defense. It’s all about restricting the rights of honest citizens.
“Gavin Newsom isn’t fooling anyone with this deceitful gambit, except maybe himself and the national media,” Gottlieb stated. “The establishment press and the political far left may lap this up, but the American public isn’t that gullible. Here’s a guy with ambitions to be president, and what he is proposing would smash a cornerstone of our federal constitution. For him to say otherwise suggests he is frighteningly delusional.”
