California’s Newsom pushes constitutional amendment to tighten gun access amid 2024 campaign
LOS ANGELES — Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Thursday amending the U.S. Constitution to harden federal gun laws amid a surge of mass killings across the nation, his latest step onto the national stage amid the unfolding 2024 White House campaign.
With the U.S. bitterly divided over gun rights and the 2nd Amendment, the chances of recasting the Constitution to enshrine universal background checks, a waiting period to buy firearms and other restrictions into law appeared remote. A new amendment has not been added since 1992.
Newsom has denied any interest in a presidential run and is supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. But his proposal marked his latest maneuver in what has taken on the look of a shadow campaign as he injects himself into the national discussion on guns, abortion, immigration and other contentious issues.
He’s been in a running dispute with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, and traveled to Florida in April to criticize what he said are GOP efforts to tread on LGBTQ+ rights, weaken civil and voting rights, ban abortion and marginalize people of color. They’ve recently clashed after Florida picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border and took them by private jet to California — Newsom called DeSantis a “small, pathetic man.”
Newsom — positioning himself as a liberal counterweight to national Republicans — has argued that Democrats have been too passive in the country’s culture wars and warned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority could unravel decades of court rulings that could redefine what it means to live in America.
Indeed, Newsom told NBC’s “The Today Show” in an interview that his proposal was crafted in response to federal courts rolling back several gun safety laws.
“The gun lobby says we can’t stop the carnage America now experiences every day without violating the 2nd Amendment — that thoughts and prayers are the best we can do … that’s a lie,” Newsom said in a statement. “In this country, we do have the power to change things. That power is written into the Constitution, and today we’re using it to end America’s gun violence crisis.”
During a walkover re-election last year and into 2023, Newsom has appeared eager to test the traditional role of a governor. He’s been seeking out the national spotlight, formed a political action committee with surplus campaign money to support Democratic candidates in Republican-led states and traveled the country to criticize GOP policies and promote California as a haven for what he calls fundamental rights, including same-sex marriage, freedom of speech and abortion.
