‘Inaction is a choice.’ Newsom lambastes GOP on gun laws after Texas school shooting

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday berated Republicans in the wake of a mass shooting at a Texas school, saying they “won’t do a damn thing” to create nationwide gun safety measures.

An 18-year-old man killed 18 students and three adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a community west of San Antonio.

He was likely killed by first responders, although the incident remains under investigation.

The Uvalde school shooting is the deadliest since a gunman killed 20 students and six staff members in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, according to the Associated Press.

Newsom responded to the Texas shooting with a series of tweets, saying “14 children and a teacher dead. Another shooting. And the GOP won’t do a damn thing about it.” Texas Rangers later updated the death toll to 18 children and 3 adults.

“Who the hell are we if we cannot keep our kids safe,” he added, calling the shooting “preventable.”

“Our inaction is a choice,” he said. “We need nationwide, comprehensive, commonsense gun safety NOW.”

Newsom has made gun safety a priority for his administration. Following the passage of a Texas law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers, the governor urged California to use the same strategy to deter gun violence.

“If Texas can use a law to ban a woman’s right to choose and to put her health at risk, we will use that same law to save lives and improve the health and safety of the people in the state of California,” Newsom said at a press conference in February.

Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, took up Newsom’s suggestion and is currently backing Senate Bill 1327, which would allow residents to sue those who sell, manufacture, distribute, transport or import into California assault weapons, .50 caliber BMG sniper rifles, ghost guns, or ghost gun kits.

Newsom has also faced some gun control policy setbacks. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in May ruled a 2019 law prohibiting residents under 21 from buying semiautomatic rifles violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

And the state’s existing laws did not prevent an April mass shooting in downtown Sacramento that killed six people.

Still, the governor continues to push gun safety at the state and federal level.

On Tuesday, he said state measures have helped California reduce its gun death rate since the 1980s.

“We won’t solve this overnight,” Newsom said. “But let’s stop pretending that these mass shootings are an inevitable horror we have to experience on a regular basis.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 3:23 PM.