California Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution to “enshrine fundamental, broadly supported gun safety measures into law” gained approval this week from the California Senate’s Public Safety Committee.
The committee voted 3–1 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 7, sending the measure to the Senate floor for a vote. If passed, it will head to the Assembly for consideration.
“This resolution applies to the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing a constitutional amendment to (1) affirm that federal, state and local governments may adopt public safety regulations limiting aspects of firearms acquisition, possession, public carry and use, and (2) impose national firearm regulations related to background checks, transfers to individuals under 21 years of age, waiting periods, and the possession of assault weapons,” the measure proclaims.
Governor Newsom announced the proposal in June as his solution to end the gun-violence crisis.
“Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution,” said Newsom in a statement. “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.”
According to Newsom’s proposal, the 28th Amendment will “permanently enshrine” these 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.
The Epoch Times reported that the measure’s passage did face opposition by one committee member:
“Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), who is the state’s first Republican Latina state senator, voted against the resolution after sharing her family’s experience in Mexico.”
“In Mexico, guns, for the average citizen, [are] outlawed,” Ms. Ochoa Bogh told the committee. “They are not allowed to have a gun. My grandfather actually hid a gun in his closet, and I remember seeing it as a kid.”
Drug cartels now have control over many small towns, she added.
“You think we have problems here? It is horrible in Mexico for many community members who are overwhelmingly suffering from carnage from cartels,” Ms. Ochoa Bogh said. “Cartels are overwhelmingly taking over many communities in Mexico and the average person cannot protect themselves. It doesn’t matter how many laws we have on the record. When we have evil people—when we have bad people—doing bad things, they could care less about the laws that we pass. It is only law-abiding people like you and me who follow the law who will become vulnerable.”
Democratic Senator Scott Wiener was the only member of the state committee to abstain from voting on the resolution. He is reportedly “a consistent supporter of gun-safety measures” but fearful of supporting the measure “because of the uncertainty of a constitutional convention.”
The Times continued:
“I am concerned what a constitutional convention could do, because we know the same extremists that have completely rewritten the Second Amendment would also like to rewrite reproductive health access, LGBTQ rights,” Mr. Wiener said. “They want to get rid of the separation of church and state. They want to undermine voting rights. For these reasons, I won’t be able to support this today,”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) responded to Newsom’s proposal by stating that “nothing succeeds in Newsom’s brand of politics like failure, and with his sights set firmly on national office, the Golden State governor is now receiving fawning attention in the mainstream press for an unserious proposal to rewrite the Second Amendment.”
The NRA continued:
The “plan” would be to change the current wording that protects what the U.S. Supreme Court has characterized as a preexisting, fundamental right rooted in concepts of self- and corporate defense into an affirmative grant of authority to the U.S. government to restrict and impede gun ownership. The fact Newsom is taking this tact [sic] to garner national attention for himself, however, may say more than he or his supporters realize about how overreaching California-style gun control already is.
