Gun groups blast Gavin Newsom’s proposal to model new gun law on Texas’ abortion ban

Pro-gun rights organizations reacted quickly to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal for California to pass a gun-control law modeled on Texas’ abortion ban, with one group promising a legal challenge.

Over the weekend, Newsom said he wants the California Legislature to pass a law that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who makes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns after the Supreme Court allowed a Texas law applying the same tactic to abortions to remain in place.

“SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?!” Newsom tweeted on Saturday. “If that’s the precedent then we’ll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets.”

The Firearms Policy Coalition, which advocates for gun rights, promised in a statement to fight the proposal. The group had filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court not to allow the Texas law to stand, arguing such a ruling would pave the way for a challenge to gun rights.

That filing “predicted that tyrants like Gavin Newsom would use the Texas model against fundamental human rights including the freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms,” the group wrote in a statement.

“We are prepared to litigate these important issues in state courts and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the group wrote. “If Gavin Newsom wants to play a game of constitutional chicken, we will prevail.”

The National Rifle Association has also criticized Newsom’s proposal.

“His promise to run roughshod over the Second Amendment is little more than political theater,” the organization wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “He and fellow Democrats should proceed at their own peril.”

It’s a politically prudent proposal for Newsom, said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and politics expert, especially because he is the first blue state governor to propose a liberal counter to the Texas law, which has been widely condemned on the left. But she cautioned that the proposal, if it made it into law, wouldn’t necessarily be treated the same way as the abortion law by the Supreme Court.

“Politically this is a really savvy move for Newsom, but I don’t see it playing out as a legal win,” she said. “I just can’t imagine this court won’t find a way to distinguish a law dealing with abortion to a law dealing with gun rights.”

Like the Texas law, Newsom is proposing to let private citizens sue for at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees.

But in contrast to the Texas law, which created a new ban on abortion that circumvents previous Supreme Court affirming abortion rights, the Newsom plan would reinforce existing California bans.

California already outlaws assault weapons and so-called ghost gun kits, which allow people to assemble their own guns. Earlier this year, a federal judge tried to strike down the state’s assault weapons ban, a decision Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta are appealing. Newsom’s proposal would become more relevant if a higher court upheld the decision to strike the assault weapons ban from California law. But in the meantime it wouldn’t necessarily have a dramatic effect, legal experts say.

“The Gavin Newsom proposal is creating civil liability for what’s already illegal,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley’s law school. Chemerinsky said that tactic could further crack down on illegal gun manufacturing and purchases by creating another enforcement mechanism.

Newsom’s proposal would need approval from the Legislature to become law. California’s Legislature is heavily Democratic and has a long track record of passing aggressive gun control.

This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 2:04 PM.