California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would enshrine gun restrictions nationwide to reduce gun crime while supposedly “leaving the [Second] Amendment unchanged.”
The longshot proposal, which Newsom announced on Thursday, would increase the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, mandate universal background checks, impose a waiting period for all gun purchases, and prohibit civilians from acquiring so-called assault weapons.
“Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution,” Newsom wrote in a statement announcing the proposal. “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.”
To introduce and advance the amendment, California will call an Article V convention of states with a joint resolution being introduced by Democrat California state senator Aisha Wahab and assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Newsom said. If the legislatures of two-thirds of the states—34, including California—apply for a convention, Congress must convene one by order of the Constitution.
The Constitution hasn’t been amended in over thirty years, and none of the other 27 Constitutional amendments have been enacted through a convention process.
The liberal California governor hopes that the enactment of the 28th amendment will pave the way for more stringent gun regulations nationally, and at the state and local level.
In a press release, Newsom said he “will 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.”
While there are 22 states roughly deemed “Republican-dominated” and 19 states roughly deemed “Democratic-dominated,” there are about ten swing states that have more mixed politics. To achieve the consent of 33 states, Newsom would have to recruit support from swing states.
Gun advocacy groups have criticized Newsom’s proposal, arguing most of the country rejects sweeping gun limitations.
“Newsom’s latest publicly stunt once again shows that his unhinged contempt for the right to self-defense has no bounds,” the National Rifle Association told USA Today. “California is a beacon for violence because of Newsom’s embrace of policies that champion the criminal and penalize the law-abiding.”
Gun Owners of America, another pro-gun organization, said that the measure will not combat gun violence as intended and will instead rob citizens who value their Second Amendment right to self defense.
“It’s a foreign concept to wealthy anti-gun political elites like Mr. Newsom that the common people have a right to possess arms for self-defense and repelling government tyranny, so it’s no surprise to us that he hopes to butcher that right with a new Constitutional amendment,” Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, told USA Today.