July 15, 2025

Gov. Newsom Respects the Second Amendment? Not for a Hot Second.

By Larry Keane

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing all he can to obfuscate his abysmal record to prepare for a White House bid in 2028. His latest stunt – he received a SIG Sauer P365X-Macro from Shawn Ryan while he was sitting for a podcast interview.

It gets better. Gov. Newsom actually said, “I’m not anti-gun at all. I’m just for some gun safe common-sense. I’m challenged by large capacity clips in urban centers, weapons of war sometimes outgunning the police. But otherwise, man, people have the right to bear arms. I got no ideological opposition to that at all.”

If you believe that, I’ve got a Golden Gate Bridge to sell you.

Here’s Gov. Newsom’s problem. We have the receipts. Heck, everyone has the receipts. The firearm industry hasn’t forgotten the time California Attorney General Rob Bonta – working for Gov. Newsom -“leaked” the personal information of every California concealed carry permit holder. Gov. Newsom’s self-professed affinity for the Second Amendment is about as hollow as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ attempt to side with gun owners by saying she own’s a GLOCK handgun.

Proposed 28^th Amendment

Perhaps Gov. Newsom thinks no one remembers his failed publicity stunt to nullify the Second Amendment with a proposed 28^th Amendment. In 2023, Gov. Newsom wanted to export California-style gun control to the rest of the United States by proposing a “Right to Safety” – an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would strip Second Amendment rights from individuals and instead make the government the arbiter of which firearm “privileges” would be allowed. That would be recipe for disaster.

His proposed amendment would have codified a national age-based gun ban by raising the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21 from 18. It would have also mandated universal background checks, which are unworkable without a national firearm registry. That’s prohibited by federal law. And the amendment would have also implemented a mandatory waiting period for all firearm purchases, immediately delaying the ability of law-abiding Americans to exercise their rights. It would have also banned ownership of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), or as California’s antigun politicians falsely label them – “assault weapons.”

Nearly 70 Gun Control Laws… and Counting

Townhall.com did the math for everyone who hasn’t been attempting to tally every gun control law Gov. Newsom has signed. Don’t feel bad for not keeping track. They’ve been coming at a dizzying pace. Since 2019, when he took office, he signed nearly 70 gun control laws. For someone who claims to respect Second Amendment rights, he’s got an odd way of demonstrating it.

Take for instance signing a law to levy an 11 percent tax on all firearms and ammunition sold in the state. That money is being funneled to state-sponsored gun control efforts. Outside of California that’s called a “sin tax,” but since when did exercising a Constitutionally-protected right become a sin? That’s only when you’re California dreaming.

There’s at least one California elected official who knows this is nonsense. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) joined with Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) to introduce H.R. 2442 for legislation, supported by NSSF, that would prohibit states from implementing excise taxes on firearms and ammunition purchases to fund gun control programs. Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) as S. 1169.

Don’t Even Talk About Guns in California

Gov. Newsom also signed AB 2571 into law, which prohibited the firearm industry from advertising firearms that might be “attractive to minors.” The governor – who said he respects the Second Amendment – held a .22-caliber youth model rifle and called it a “weapon of war” while pointing it directly at the cameraman.

That law threatened not just the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Californians but also their First Amendment rights. California’s law would have imposed a $25,000 minimum penalty for sponsoring any adult-supervised youth shooting event. That includes the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife’s hunter education courses. Boy Scout target shooting merit badges could even be included.

“Would have” is the operative phrase because this unconstitutional law was challenged and even the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – a court regarded as openly hostile to Second Amendment rights – ruled in favor of the challengers seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent AG Bonta from enforcing the law while it is being challenged. The Ninth Circuit held in Junior Sports Magazines v. Bonta that California’s law prohibiting advertisements promoting any firearm-related product in a manner that is “designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors” violated the First Amendment.

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction, concluding that the plaintiff was likely to succeed on the merits because California failed to justify its infringement of protected speech. Indeed, the court explained that “California cannot lean on gossamers of speculation to weave an evidence-free narrative that its law curbing the First Amendment ‘significantly’ decreases unlawful gun use among minors,” as the First Amendment “demands more than good intentions and wishful thinking to warrant the government’s muzzling of speech.”

The Junior Sports Magazine case recently returned to the Ninth Circuit, which clarified the court’s prior ruling. The Ninth Circuit determined that the district court abused its discretion in issuing a preliminary injunction against only one provision of the law. The court said the entire California statute was likely unconstitutional and sent the case back to the district court to enter the appropriate order.

Gov. Newsom’s gun control track record isn’t new. It stretches back to his days as San Francisco’s mayor. In 2005, he supported Proposition H, which prohibited the possession, manufacture and sale of handguns in San Francisco. That gun control attempt was also defeated in court. As lieutenant governor, he backed Proposition 63, requiring background checks for ammunition purchases and banning standard-capacity magazines.

Gov. Newsom can’t walk this one back. When it comes to gun control – all sales are final. The firearm industry has the receipts.

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