California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed adding a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution last week focused on ending “America’s Gun violence crisis.”
“Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution,” Newsom said in a press release. “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.”
Newsom’s release stated:
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.
Additionally, the 28th Amendment will affirm Congress, states, and local governments can enact additional common-sense gun safety regulations that save lives.
The proposed amendment, according to Newsom, “will require a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also known as an Article V Convention or amendatory convention.”
Newsom quickly received well-deserved criticism. The NRA tweeted, “Newsom’s latest publicly [likely publicity] stunt once again shows that his unhinged contempt for the right to self-defense has no bounds. California is a beacon for violence because of Newsom’s embrace of policies that champion the criminal and penalize the law-abiding. That is why the majority of Americans rightfully reject his California-style gun control.”
California Congressman and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tweeted: “Hey Governor Newsom, The 2nd Amendment already exists—we don’t need a 28th. But what we do need is for Presidential aspirants to stop pushing their extreme positions nationally.”
Aside from the criticism, the real issue with the proposal is Newsom even thinking a Constitutional Convention is a good idea.
Anyone who knows the basics of the history of the United States knows that there is no such thing as a “limited” constitutional convention, as Newsom claims would happen. We all should remember that the 1787 Convention of state delegates to revise the Articles of Confederation led to the formation of a new government when the delegates decided to write a new constitution. That constitution, our current form of government, has become infiltrated with corrupt politicians leading us to what we have today, an out-of-control big government.
However, all is not lost, and getting back to the true principles of limited government is the only solution to solving the crises that America is suffering through.
As The New American noted about the “dangers of trying to solve” a “problem via an Article V Convention,” in our article “Article V Convention: Will It Work?,” “the risks of a new Constitutional Convention simply far outweigh any possible good that could come from such an undertaking at this time in American history, when the ‘progressive’ Left is hell-bent on destroying our American way of life.”
The best solution is to “educate our fellow Americans in constitutional principles of limited government, federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances — by emphasizing Article VI of the Constitution, which states clearly that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and that public officials from local sheriffs to the president of the United States are oath-bound to follow that Constitution.”
