Newsom runs anti-GOP Texas newspaper ad saying gun control ‘protects the right to life’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called out another major red state governor Friday, as his re-election campaign ran full-page ads in Texas newspapers attacking GOP anti-abortion policies and saying his own recently-signed gun control measures “protect the right to life.”

The campaign spent about $30,000 purchasing space for ads in the Austin-American Statesman, Houston Chronicle and El Paso Times on the same day he was set to sign Senate Bill 1327, a measure modeled after Texas’s bounty-style anti-abortion law. NBC News first reported on the ads.

This is the second national ad Newsom’s campaign has produced for media markets in other states. Earlier in July, the governor’s campaign aired television ads in Florida going after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party for legislation on abortion, book banning and ballot access restrictions.

The Texas newspaper ad has bullet holes in the shape of stars at the top and a quote taken from Gov. Greg Abbott when he signed the anti-abortion measure, Senate Bill 8.

“Our creator endowed us with the right to life. And yet ... children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives.”

The word ‘abortion’ is crossed out and replaced with ‘gun violence.’ ‘Texas’ is crossed out for ‘California,’ and ‘Greg Abbott’ is replaced with ‘Gavin Newsom.’

The bottom of the ad contains smaller type that reads: “These were Governor Abbott’s words when he signed SB 8 into law essentially banning abortion in the state of Texas. Today Governor Newsom signed SB 1327, California’s answer to Texas’ perverse bill that placed bounties on doctors and patients.”

“If Texas can ban abortion and endanger lives, California can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives,” it continues. “If Governor Abbott truly wants to protect the right to life, we urge him to follow California’s lead.”

Newsom signs gun control bill modeled after Texas law

Newsom on Friday morning signed SB 1327 at Santa Monica College near Los Angeles at a ceremony that included remarks from lawmakers and gun violence survivors.

The new law allows Californians to sue individuals who knowingly traffic illegal firearms or parts, including ghost guns, for damages of at least $10,000 per weapon.

Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, authored the measure at Newsom’s request after Texas passed a 2021 law allowing people to sue abortion clinics and anyone who “aids and abets” those seeking the procedure for damages.

The U.S. Supreme Court kept the law in place following challenges, prompting Newsom to push for California to take similar action on gun violence.

The governor said he’s eager to make 40 million Californians “enforcers” of the new measure.

“There is no other state in the United States of America doing more on gun safety than the state of California. Period. Full stop,” Newsom said during the event. “We set the tone and tenor for gun safety debate in this country.”

Governor calls law ‘meaningful and demonstrable step’

However, SB 1327 had some staunch opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The organization said the legal argument it uses is “unsound and invalid” in an Assembly bill analysis.

“No worthy motive and no permissible goal can justify such a radical and dangerous assault on our constitutional structure,” the ACLU said. “Replicating the reprehensible Texas model only serves to legitimize and promote it, as evidenced by the copycat measures already enacted in some states, with many more pending around the country ...”

Newsom pushed back on this argument during the signing, saying SB 1327 is meant to be just as provocative as the Texas abortion law.

“Critics have said that while you were mindful of SB 8 in Texas, which was the inspiration, that you criticized SB 8, you criticized the Supreme Court decision, isn’t it right that you should aspire when they go low, you go high?” Newsom said. “And that’s a fair question. And it’s the right question. But that’s not the world we’re living in right now.”

The governor mentioned federal gun legislation President Joe Biden signed in June that expanded background checks, strengthened gun-trafficking laws and added dating partners to rules barring domestic abusers from purchasing firearms.

Newsom said he thanked lawmakers behind the measure during his recent trip to Washington, D.C., but he called the new law “marginal, by their own acknowledgment.”

He said SB 1327 is a “meaningful and demonstrable step in the right direction.”

“There is no principled way the United States Supreme Court can overturn this law and uphold the right for Texas to continue to move forward with SB 8,” Newsom said.

This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 10:59 AM.