California Governor Gavin Newsom is considering amending the United States Constitution.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the state assembly approved a resolution on Thursday in support of Newsom’s call for a 28th constitutional amendment.
The amendment would codify in federal law a list of Democratic gun-control policy demands.
NEW: California just became the first state in the nation to officially propose an Amendment to the United States Constitution to end our nation’s gun violence crisis.
Time to enshrine 4 widely supported gun safety freedoms —
1) Raising the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21…
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 15, 2023
The state of California has called for a constitutional convention to enshrine the amendment. According to the Times, two-thirds of state legislatures would have to vote in favor of a convention for the proposal to be considered.
The proposed “Right to Safety Amendment” would restrict legal gun ownership to people 21 and older, require universal government background checks on all gun sales, impose a “reasonable waiting period” for gun purchases, and prohibit the purchase of numerous types of semiautomatic rifles.
Earlier this summer, Newsom began promoting the amendment’s concept.
When people ask why I am introducing a Constitutional Amendment on gun safety this is why.
Not only has Congress stalled for YEARS on passing common sense reforms — judges across the country are tearing down laws that Americans overwhelmingly support. Laws that keep us SAFE and…
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 9, 2023
Despite the proposed amendment’s alterations to the American legal understanding of gun ownership, the governor maintains it will coexist with the Second Amendment.
“The Right to Safety Amendment would preserve the integrity of the Second Amendment while enshrining in our Constitution commonsense safety provisions that are supported overwhelmingly by the American people,” the progressive governor said in a news release.
“In the face of decades of Congressional inaction and unelected judges that are putting Americans in danger, it is time for citizens to stand up for common sense to protect us against the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence.”
The chances of the proposed amendment becoming established in law are small.
Any amendment to the Constitution must be approved by three-fourths of state legislatures before it becomes law, and Republicans control a majority of state houses.
Many of the amendment’s requirements are already in place in California, which had the most mass shootings in the country between 1982 and August of this year, according to Statista. According to the Giffords Law Center, the nation’s most populous state had the eighth-lowest gun death rate among the 50 states in 2021.
We have the toughest gun laws in America. Yet California has the most mass shootings. pic.twitter.com/tQT3znE2fA
— KDugan1850 (@KDugan1850) August 24, 2023
According to the Los Angeles Times, California’s Assembly passed Newsom’s proposal by a vote of 51-14 on Thursday, with numerous Democrats voting no.
