Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced support for gun control legislation Wednesday, saying “we’ve passed common sense gun safety laws and they work.”
The legislation, Senate Bill 2, would restrict people under 21 from getting a concealed carry permit, require more training to receive a permit and implement a “sensitive places” restriction that will dictate where a permit can be used. The bill was written by Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino, and follows mass shootings in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park in January.
“Only in America do we see the kind of carnage and chaos of gun violence that destroys our communities and our sense of safety and belonging,” Newsom said in a release. “America is number 1 in gun ownership and we far surpass every developed nation on Earth in gun deaths – it’s not complicated. In California, we’ve passed common sense gun safety laws and they work: we have a 37% lower gun death rate than the national average. We’re doubling down on gun safety and strengthening our public carry law to protect it from radical Republican attacks.”
In June, the Supreme Court struck down New York’s concealed carry gun law during the New York State Rifle And Pistol Association v. Bruen case. The ruling set a precedent for gun laws in the country, and many states have since updated their gun laws.
SB 2 would “make fixes necessary to update the standards and processes for obtaining a public carry permit in California,” according to the release. One of the changes in the proposed legislation implements a “sensitive places” requirement that limits concealed carry in public areas and private businesses.
If a business or private property owner wishes to allow concealed carry in their business or property, they will be required to put up a concealed carry sign, according to the legislation.
Other states have implemented “sensitive places” restrictions, but lawsuits were filed shortly after, claiming they were unconstitutional. Federal judges have blocked “sensitive places” restrictions in New York and New Jersey.
“Contrary to the claims of Newsom and his ilk, California gun laws have not given the state dramatically less mass shooting deaths. As the data shows, we have our share and then some. Newsom will usually also claim that California has less ‘gun deaths’ thanks to its gun laws,” attorney Konstadinos Moros previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In terms of overall homicide, California is unremarkable.”
Despite a long history of restrictive gun laws aimed at curbing gun violence, 14% of U.S. mass shooting fatalities have taken place in California, making it the state with the second-most mass shooting fatalities, just behind Texas, according to data reviewed by the DCNF.
Since 1982, there have been 23 mass shootings and 152 fatalities in California, according to Mother Jones data on mass shootings in the U.S. over the last 40 years.
“Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating. The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact,” Newsom told CBS Evening News following the Half Moon Bay Shooting.
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
