The National Rifle Association hit back at California Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal for a 28th Amendment that would increase gun control.
Newsom, a Democrat, proposed a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution on Thursday "to enshrine fundamental, broadly supported gun safety measures into law." The NRA was quick to take him to task.
"Newsom’s latest publicly stunt once again shows that his unhinged contempt for the right to self-defense has no bounds," the NRA said in a statement to Fox News. "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."
Newsom's office, in announcing the amendment, claimed that it would not keep Second Amendment rights "unchanged," and that it would regulate weapons while "respecting America’s gun-owning tradition[.]"
NEWSOM PROPOSES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO RESTRICT GUN RIGHTS
"[T]he Governor’s proposal guarantees common sense constitutional protections and gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, independent voters, and gun owners overwhelmingly support – including universal background checks, raising the firearm purchase age to 21, instituting a firearm purchase waiting period, and barring the civilian purchase of assault weapons," his office said in a press release.
"Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution," Newsom said 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."
The proposed amendment would raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, mandate universal background checks "to prevent truly dangerous people from purchasing a gun that could be used in a crime," institute a reasonable waiting period for all gun purchases and bar "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 California governor's office said.
One method of amending the Constitution is for two-thirds of the states to propose it in what is known as an Article V Convention or amendatory convention. Three-quarters of state legislatures or conventions in each state must then ratify the amendment.
Newsom said California will be the first state in the nation to call for such a convention with a joint resolution being introduced by California State Senator Aisha Wahab and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer. The governor promised to work with grassroots supporters, elected and civic leaders, and broad and diverse coalitions across the nation to fight for the passage of similar resolutions in other state legislatures "to ensure the convening of a constitutional convention limited to this subject."
In addition to California, 33 other states would need to take action to convene such a convention.
