Gavin Newsom isn't anti-gun...or so we've been told. I mean, Shawn Ryan gave him a gun, and he accepted it. That's proof he's not anti-gun, just like Kamala "Gun Ban" Harris wasn't anti-gun because she had a Glock.
But now that Newsom is part of the gun community, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has some advice for him.
See, it's not just enough to have a gun. If you're pro-gun, you need to do a little more than that, and in a press release, the CCRKBA asks that he matches his newfound love of firearms with action along those lines.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration last week during a visit with Tennessee-based podcaster Shawn Ryan—where the governor accepted a Sig Sauer pistol—saying that he is “not anti-gun…just for gun safety” needs affirmation by action, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms observed.
“Assuming that Newsom’s epiphany is real and he is trying to revive a pro-gun wing of the Democratic Party as exemplified by Eleanor Roosevelt and Hubert Humphrey,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “he can demonstrate this by telling gun grabbers in the California legislature to end their crusade against Second Amendment rights. He can tell Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel to stop his war on Glock pistols. And, to solidify his newly-professed pro-gun philosophy, Newsom can force major amendments to Senate Bill 704, which imposes new requirements on barrel transfers, or veto the legislation altogether.”
Although Newsom was gifted with the Sig pistol, he left the gun with Ryan so it may be legally transferred to him back in California, where it will be shipped via a federally-licensed firearms dealer. When the gun arrives, the governor can fill out the necessary paperwork and go through the state’s 10-day waiting period after he passes a background check. If he plans to carry concealed, he must obtain a California Firearm Safety Certificate before he applies for a carry permit.
“We will wait with bated breath for Gov. Newsom to announce he has completed all of the California requirements,” Gottlieb said, “and then he can show us a sample of his safety and marksmanship skills, which should be rather enlightening.
“Newsom might further cement his position as a gun rights champion by encouraging Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop his opposition to lawsuits brought by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and others,” Gottlieb added. “He can also lobby the State Assembly to change California anti-gun laws passed hastily to get around the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in the Bruen case.
“The governor’s daughter turns 18 in 2027,” he noted. “How will Gavin react if she wants to own a handgun for personal protection? He might start now by encouraging Bonta to support SAF’s efforts to overturn state and federal restrictions against handgun ownership by young adults.“Gavin has a ways to go before he convinces anyone he has turned over a new leaf on gun rights,” Gottlieb said. “He should start right now.”
Of course, he hasn't changed anything.
As I already noted, Kamala Harris has a gun and she's supported at least two proposed gun bans over the years, including a handgun ban that would have impacted her. It's not that hard for extremely anti-gun politicians to have guns while advocating for restrictions that would strip the rest of us of our right to keep and bear arms.
Political elites always figure there will be a way they'll be excluded from any excessive regulation. They'll put things in place where they'll be protected, and the rest of us won't.
If Newsom wants to convince us that he's not anti-gun, then he needs to start by acting like he's not anti-gun.
Let's understand that there are two tiers of not being anti-gun. One is to be actively pro-gun. At no point has Newsom supported any measure that would restore gun rights to the people of California. That's being pro-gun. You have to actively support measures that are pro-gun. Period.
Then there's anti-gun control. Those are the people who will block any new gun control, but won't expand rights either. They're not pro-Second Amendment so much as pro-status quo.
Newsom has backed plenty of gun control as governor. He's definitely not anti-gun control.
In California, even anti-gun control would be a significant improvement, but the question is whether Newsom will match deeds to words. Since he's a politician, I just don't see it happening.
This really is like Harris bragging about owning a Glock. It's an attempt to deflect from his anti-gun record by saying, "See! I have a gun, so I can't be anti-gun!"
No one is buying it until and unless he starts acting like he gives a damn about gun rights.
I'm not holding my breath.
