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Gov. Newsom announces gun bill modeled after Texas abortion law

February 21, 2022

Gov. Gavin Newsom

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced new legislation modeled after a Texas abortion law that would allow Californians to sue gun manufacturers.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Texas’s ban on most abortion services, Newsom directed his administration to work with the California Legislature to draft a bill that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, transports, imports into the state or sells assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns or ghost gun kits. Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) is introducing the bill in the state Senate, the governor and senator jointly announced on Friday.

“In a just world, a woman’s right to choose would be sacrosanct, and California’s people would be protected from ghost guns and assault weapons,” Hertzberg said in a statement. “Sadly, a misguided Supreme Court decision has turned common sense on its head. With this bill, we take advantage of the court’s flawed logic to protect all Californians and save lives.”

The bill, also known as AB 1594, was co-authored by Assemblymen Philip Ting (D-San Francisco), Mike Gipson (D-Carson) and Christopher Ward (D-San Diego). AB 1594 would allow individuals and the California attorney general to sue manufacturers and sellers of firearms for harm caused by their products.

In 2005, Congress passed a law that protects gun manufacturers and dealers from civil suits when crimes are committed using the guns they produce. AB 1594 makes use of an exemption to the federal law that allows gunmakers or sellers to be sued for violations of state laws relating to the sale or marketing of firearms, according to Newsom’s office.

The bill modeled after the Texas abortion law is being introduced as part of a package of new gun legislation in California. Also part of the legislative package, AB 2571 would ban the marketing of certain categories of weapons to children, and AB 1621 would tighten ghost gun restrictions in California.

“California will continue to lead the fight to end gun violence with bold action to tackle the national crisis putting millions of Californians at risk,” Newsom said in a statement. “It’s time to go on the offensive with new measures that empower individuals to hold irresponsible and negligent gun industry actors to account, crack down on shameful advertising that targets our kids and more. This is not about attack law-abiding gun owners — it’s about stopping the tragic violence ravaging communities across the country.”


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Interestingly, CA is not in the top ten of gun ownership, nor gun deaths. Not close. Many are fleeing CA and this is Newsom’s big new “victory”? He’s hiding all the issues voters in CA are the most upset about. This is not one of them.


4

As usual, I’m seeing comments here that don’t add up. And, as usual, those comments would not likely have been posted had the perps been forced to use their actual names.


For instance, using a gun to commit a murder and having the manufacturer included as a responsible party being compared to using an SUV to commit a murder and trying to make the case that it is an identical circumstance.


The first and most obvious difference here is that the SUV was built for the primary purpose of transportation and requires very specific circumstances to be used to cause harm, whereas the gun was designed for the sole purpose of easily and directly causing grievous bodily harm or death.


One is designed to take you to work, shop, recreate, visit, deliver, etc., etc. The other is designed specifically to kill. Period. In the case of the weapons listed in the bill, that killing would be in the commission of a crime or the event of war. In the event of war, weapons would be supplied. So, folks, why do you think you need weapons designed specifically for crime?


That might involve mental health issues……


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Just remember, if you can’t fight off that urge to kill someone, don’t use a gun. You should instead get drunk and run them down with your car, which pretty much ensures you won’t see any jail time. The gun industry is the low hanging fruit in this case. It sure seems that innocent people dying in gun violence is a tragedy while innocent people dying at the hands of drunk/impaired drivers continues to be no big deal.


11

So under this law could the people injured and killed in the Waukesha Christmas Parade could sue Ford for building the SUV that ran them down?


13

The best way to ensure black market guns will grow in abundance is for the government to ignore the 2nd amendment….


12

The Newsom “Ruling Through Insanity” continues. If you really want to protect the citizens of this state, how about enforcing the law and sentences against the violent criminals you’re not prosecuting or releasing from prison dumb a… No brains, no headaches.


16

The Texas law and the California law are both as stupid as can be. Apparently, Gov. Gruesome thinks two wrongs make a right.


27

He is hoping to influence the Supreme Court before they make that first wrong the law of the land. We’ll only get this second wrong / law if the SC upholds the Texas law.


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