Gavin Newsom Has a Radical Idea for Tackling Gun Violence: Amend the U.S. Constitution

Jan 12, 2024

By Eric Lutz

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a novel— and longshot— push for gun control to address the country's ongoing crisis of mass shootings and deadly violence: a constitutional amendment that would impose federal restrictions on gun ownership and ban assault weapons. "This is an existential crisis," Newsom told NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff, in an interview that aired on the Today Show Thursday.

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"It's absolute insanity," he added in a separate interview with Politico, referring to the daily drumbeat of gun violence in America. "And the biggest and most insane thing we can do is the same old BS and just point fingers. So let's give this a shot."

To be clear, it's extremely unlikely the proposed 28th amendment— which would raise the minimum purchasing age to 21, impose universal background checks and waiting periods, and prohibit the sale of assault weapons— will come to fruition, even as the country suffers a record-breaking wave of mass gun violence this year. As Soboroff notes, it would require two-thirds of states to pass the amendment to trigger a constitutional convention, and three-quarters of states would need to approve it to enact it. That's a tall order in a country where 22 states are entirely under the control of a GOP that has baked 2nd amendment absolutism deep into its party platform. But Newsom's move could apply new pressure, both at the federal and state level, for common sense gun reform that polls show most Americans support.

"This initiative will literally be a catalyst for other states to follow," California State Senator Aisha Wahab told Politico.

America has already suffered more than two dozen mass shootings this year, according to an Associated Press/USA Today database, in addition to the everyday violence, accidents, and suicides that roil communities across the country. While President Joe Biden last year signed the most substantial gun safety bill in decades last year, federal reform has been limited by Republicans. Blue states like California, Illinois, and New York have worked to strengthen their regulations. But their efforts have been undermined by lax gun laws in neighboring states and by the Supreme Court, where the conservative majority further expanded gun rights in a high-profile ruling last year.

"We’re sick of being on the defense and throwing up our hands," Newsom told Politico. "We want to go on the offense and be for something and build a movement that's bottom up, not top down."

While getting even half of America's states on board for the proposal will be an uphill battle, it will at least be a new rallying point for the gun control movement. "We cannot stand idly while courts roll back our work and diminish the ability of our Legislature to keep Californians safe," Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who is spearheading the amendment with Wahab, said in a statement. "This bold but fair resolution calls on other states to join us in protecting some of the most effective ways of reducing gun violence."

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