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California governor takes aim at concealed carry, Fresno DA

February 2, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

In response to recent deadly shootings in the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new legislation this week that would make obtaining concealed carry permits more difficult. Likewise, he engaged in a war of words with the Fresno County District Attorney over the case of a Central Valley police officer whom a gunman shot and killed on Tuesday.

Newsom announced the introduction of Senate Bill 2, authored by state Sen. Anthony Portantino and also backed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. SB 2 would make California’s licensing system for concealed carry permits more stringent; set a minimum age of 21 for obtaining a concealed carry permit; create stiffer training requirements related to handling, loading, unloading and storage of firearms; and establish “safe community places” where concealed firearms would be restricted.

“The mass shooting incidents we have seen over recent weeks bring to light the need for stronger protections for our communities,” Attorney General Bonta said in a statement. “The fact is, individuals who are not law-abiding, responsible citizens simply shouldn’t possess firearms — and they especially shouldn’t be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in public.”

Fresno District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp

Newsom’s office claims efforts to loosen concealed carry restrictions across the country have resulted in an increased in violent crime. Gun homicides increased by 22% in states that passed permitless carry laws, while violent crimes with a firearm rose by 29%, according to the governor’s office.

Following the killing of Selma Police Officer Gonzalo Carrasco Jr. by a gunman with a criminal background, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp criticized Newsom for policies allowing the early release of inmates from prison.

Newsom responded to Smittcamp during a press conference on gun law reform saying, “She should blame herself. I’ve been listening to this for years. She has the prosecutorial discretion. Ask her what she did in terms of prosecuting that case. I’m sick and tired of being lectured by her about public safety.”

In turn, Smittcamp released a statement saying, “Governor Newsom continues to demonstrate his ignorance and lack of understanding of how the criminal justice system works. His arrogant and defensive response is proof positive that he is attempting to deflect responsibility for his failed policies, but he also proves, once again, his lack of understanding of the sentencing structure and process in which criminal cases are handled in the Superior Courts of the State of California.”


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Reading the comments I think everyone agrees we do have a gun problem… but somehow the solve is more guns? There are numerous means of self defense available… Just wanna kill someone or what?


-60

Do you think these people that went out and killed these people give a damn about not having a conceal carry permit or any others laws related to guns. I get sick and tired of these idiots passing more laws that do nothing to curb lunatic people killing other but just affects the law abiding citizen. Newsom has body guards with concealed weapons why does he need that and not a law abiding citizen is he more important?


60

I get sick and tired of these idiots complaining about people trying to make things safer when the people complaining about new laws have no soluition to offer, just 2a shouting.


-50

Your rebuttal is confusing, why don’t they require the people who want to buy a gun include their mental health issues,because it’s a invasion of their health privacy they say. You can add every safety item to a car but in the end it’s the driver who determines what that car does same with guns never saw a gun jump out of concealed holster and shoot someone by itself have you?


5

And your solution to gun violence? More guns? More police?


-2

So, your solution is I go to my local gun store and purchase a weapon, so that if I happen to be at a Chinese dance hall or church or synagogue or Walmart or anywhere, I can simply pull out my Glock19 and shoot the perp dead.


Ok, dumb idea. Tens of millions of Americans want nothing to do with a gun. In case after case, individuals with guns have only made things worse—see Kyle Rittenhouse.


Would it not be easier to buy back most of the neatly 400 million guns currently on the streets. Pay top dollar. Australia did this. They have .088 gun deaths per 100,000 people. The U.S. has 12.21 gun deaths per 100,000 people. Now, last time I checked, Aussies watched the same movies as we did, played the same video games and had similar numbers when it came to mental illness.


Get the guns off the streets. Simple. But, no, the 2nd amendment people block it every time despite the fact that 49,000 Americans were killed by guns last year. That number represents roughly 1/5 of gun deaths across the globe even though the U.S. has only 4.25% of the world population.


-49

Didn’t see that in my post so where and a lot of other people always come up with a quote of something that’s not there. 49,000 Americans were killed by ! PEOPLE ! using a gun to do it. How many people were killed by a vehicle operated by a person? My view to be clear is people should be able to purchase and conceal carry if they meet all the current requirements. I really would not be that concerned about everyone getting a concealed carry permit in Ca as the only ones who get it are people with influence not the average guy


1

This makes absolutely no sense. What you see is the goberment not being able to stop mass shootings, so they do something that makes it look like they’re doing something. So don’t give permits to bad people, but let the good people have them so they can protect themselves against the bad people.


48

What you see is people complaining about people who are trying to make thing better.


All complaints, no soluitions, makes absolutely no sense..


-41

Did any of these shooters have a CWP? I don’t see the connection.


64

This guy reduces his chance of being president each and every day with nonsense like this…


49

Well, considering a recent University of Chicago poll indicated that “71% of Americans say gun laws should be stricter” you might be wrong.


https://news.uchicago.edu/story/poll-most-americans-see-gun-violence-major-problem-want-stricter-gun-laws


-15

There are well over 20,000 local, state, and federal gun laws, all purported to ensure public safety from the illegal use of firearms. Each one was passed as a “common sense” gun law. Each one was determined to be more strict than the last.


Since 20,000+ anti-gun laws are not working, what will more non-working anti-gun laws do differently?


Not too long ago, Republicans passed a law that mandated 5 years for using a gun in a crime, any crime. Leftist judges and democrat legislators have, basically, eliminated this punishment for using a gun in a crime, as it always gets “plea bargained” away. Now, you don’t even need bail to be released!


Every one of those 20,000 anti-gun laws are ONLY obeyed by the law abiding citizen. Criminal, by their very nature, have no need for laws.


7

Complain all you want, as long as the people with the guns keep shooting people, those people will keep making laws.


It’s clear the people with the guns don’t give a shit because all they do is complain about all the laws and wont provide any solutions to what they have helped create.


In other news a pot smokeing history cant keep you from owning a gun, yea 2a.


-4

You misspelled “..bad guys with the guns”, and I don’t believe the bad guys are making any laws.


The “people with the guns”, –and I have to think you mean the law abiding– have offered myriad solutions to crimes we had no hand in. We always start with the 2nd Amendment, and then demand heavy punishment. When bad guys are in jail for long and extended periods, due to their poor choices in life, they are not on the street being bad guys.


Thing is, Newsom and people with his mentality, do not see bad guys as the problem…


2

No I did not misspell anything.


“We always start with the 2nd Amendment” So more guns.


Problem is, guns and people with this mentality, offer more violence, what ye sow……


-3

Again, 20,000 gun laws that ONLY effect the law abiding. The anti-gun people have failed, despite 20,000 gun laws (and counting).


If you were a gardener, your solution for a thick luxurious backyard lawn, would be to withhold water, and allow trespassers to dig.


We have offered solutions. But our solutions means enforcing the law against the bad guys, or stopping them from doing what they do, sometimes with the violence of the righteous.


2

Every criminal was a law abiding citizen once.


To be clear you support more guns, more taxes to build more prisons, larger probation dept. more union guards, more pensions, more judges and so on?


“We have offered solutions. ” No we, only you, what solutions?


-2

Would someone give Governor Newsom a copy of the US Constitution, more times than not when he opens his mouth it seems like he has never read it.


49

You have a solution to the problem?


-24

Yeah , I do,


Lock people up when they break the law and stop the revolving door in our criminal justice system. You ask how many prisons are we going to build? Here’s my answer, as many as it takes.


Give judges back the sentencing discretion they once had. Finally, work on changing the culture and promote civility, respect for law and order and individual responsibility. This begins in the elementary schools.


That’s just for starters.


20

“as many as it takes.”

So raise lots of taxes, build prisons.


“in the elementary schools”

Not with all the budget cuts of the last 50 years, this is how we got here under educating and creating criminals with economics.


Circle of US life continues.


-2

Why make it harder to protect ourselves? It’s already illegal for criminals to posses a gun. I’m not a criminal. My family is my responsibility. Good on the Fresno DA, stand up for us all. Dow should echo her statements.


93

It’s only “harder” if you have a record… aka you are not a law abiding citizen… aka someone we DO NOT WANT TO HAVE A WEAPON AS THEY HAVE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED THEIR LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY. Understand? Geeze.


-45

The ‘harder to protect’ scenario has nothing to do with having a criminal record. Criminals don’t apply for concealed carry licenses — they just carry weapons illegally without applying for licensing.


The people who this law effects are regular citizens who apply for concealed carry licenses (ccw). The licensing process requires you to interview with the Sheriff/Chief of Police, get Livescanned, background checked, provide character references, complete training course, pay administrative fees multiple times along the way, etc. Frankly, it’s not for poor people or criminals — as you’ve invested many hours (often during working time) and easily $1k in costs by the time you are licensed. Criminals are not filling out applications for CCW and interviewing with the Sheriff. It is not a process that people with criminal history embark on.

Putting additional barriers on the ccw process has zero effect on criminals, other than preventing regular citizens from legally protecting themselves.

I’m open for debate though — how about you show some examples of concealed carry permit holders engaged in criminal activity?


29

“It is not a process that people with criminal history embark on”. Yes, we agree. Thank you for listing all the reasons why that is and will continue to be so. Let’s not make it easy for anyone, let alone criminals, to get a weapon.


Argued against yourself lol.


-33

You’ve failed to understand the difference between ‘getting a weapon’ and ‘getting a ccw’ — what I described above is the existing ccw licensing process. The ccw licensing process has absolutely zero to do with ‘getting a weapon.’


19

“ I’m open for debate” But no workable solutions other than more guns?


-27

Solutions? If you know that fire can burn down your house or vehicle, get a fire extinguisher. If you know that a car accident can send you through the window of your car, put on a seat belt. If you know that an active shooter can rampage through a grocery store with a rifle, get your ccw. The solution is: be prepared.


19

Okay kettle no one has answered you but I will. To deal with crime in general, which includes crime where a gun was used, is roll back all these soft on crime policies and laws that the dems passed. I’ll even give you some examples that have raised crime rates, DAs undercharging crimes, DAs not arguing in court to keep a criminal in custody, bail elimination and reduction, letting repeat and violent offenders out of state prison early, closing prisons, reducing penalties for crimes, not locking felons up when they are caught with a gun, etc. I could go on.


The dems response to crimes with guns is to make laws that affect ONLY law abiding citizens. This is akin to banning cars of the law abiding or restricting theIr ability to drive a car due to drunk drivers.


16

So you want to raise taxes, hire guards and build prisons.


-2

A recent RAND meta-analysis study found that there is supportive evidence that shall-issue concealed-carry laws may increase total and firearm homicides. I don’t think the answer to our current firearm death epidemic is more vigilantes who are packing. One just needs to look at the recent incident on the central coast where a trained police officer accidentally shot an innocent bystander to see what could happen with a bunch of untrained people toting guns.


-16

Exactly, evidence indicates that when guns are present in a household (I assume that conceal-carry people take their guns home with them) more people are likely to get shot. Researchers say that the chances of being killed by a gun rise by 50% when a gun is present in their household.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/guns-handguns-safety-homicide-killing-study


The gun lobby continues to preach this mantra despite the fact that there are more guns than people in this nation. How many guns do we need?


The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and thinking something will change.


-16

Sure thing Mr. FoxtrotYankee, here are some stats for you from concealedcarrykillers dot org:


2,240 Total People Killed By Concealed Carry Killers

37 Number of Mass Shootings Committed By Concealed Carry Killers

64 Number of Murder-Suicides Committed By Concealed Carry Killers

24 Law Enforcement Officers Killed By Concealed Carry Killers


-12

Those numbers are from a left wing organization. I can post stats from a right wing organizations that completely contradict those stats.


11

Sure, any stats that could possibly indicate guns are harmful in any way are automatically labeled by extremists like you as “left wing”. The real reason we don’t have better stats is the right wingers beholden to the NRA attached the Dickey Amendment onto a 1996 spending bill that banned ALL federal research on gun violence. If the pro-gun lobby really wants the public to know the truth about gun violence, why are they so afraid of actual impartial research that could possibly back up their stance if true?


-2

Calling me an extremist, especially when you do not know my beliefs, does not make my statement untrue. I found your stats you posted above online and they were done by a left wing anti gun group! So YES, it is done by a left wing group. The gun lobby does not fear impartial research, they fear the government doing it and it being invalid due to partisanship. You might not have noticed but our government has become clearly extreme partisan, both the Rs and the Ds.


Here’s my bottom line, gun control only affects law abiding citizens. Criminals could care less about gun control laws, it is ludicrous to think otherwise. How we can deal with crimes committed with guns is through crime control. Newsome and his cronies have championed all kinds of soft on crime policies and laws. That is where need to look to deal with this issue. How I arrived at these opinions is almost three decades in law enforcement not listening to media talking heads.


4

“gun control only affects law abiding citizens”


Ah yes, the tired old “lawbreakers paradox”.



  1. Law-abiding citizens obey the law

  2. Criminals are lawbreakers, and thus do not obey the law

  3. Laws impose restrictions on the behavior of only those that follow them

  4. Laws, therefore, only hurt law-abiding citizens


Without exception, every law could be refuted with the lawbreaker’s paradox, and societies would swiftly descend into anarchy if it weren’t for reasonable policymakers. Laws against rape, murder, and theft, for example, are rarely followed by rapists, murderers, and thieves, but the fact that such people exist in society is the reason behind such regulations in the first place.


You forwarding this line of argument shows a serious lapse in moral intuition that privileges expediency over human lives. To think that the minor inconvenience of reasonable gun reforms such as background checks, waiting periods, and assault weapon bans is more burdensome than the death of thousands of innocent civilians each year (which such reforms seek to redress) reflects a miscalibrated sense of what matters in the world. After all, when gun advocates say that they are being ‘hurt’ by gun control, let’s be clear what the actual implication of this statement is: my right to not be bothered in the least by regulation outweighs the right to life for thousands of innocents who die in the absence of said regulation. Not only can such gun reforms reduce the number of homicides, but there is very little controversy about the tremendous effect they would have at reducing suicides. So, the belief that laws aimed at saving lives “hurt law-abiding citizens” is completely incompatible with any sane definition of right and wrong.


-2

Fake stats. LOL!!


5

If that’s the case then did they go back and see where the system may have failed or just pass more laws as usual with no real research


3

“The fact is, individuals who are not law-abiding, responsible citizens simply shouldn’t possess firearms — and they especially shouldn’t be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in public.”


I hate to be the pessimist, but you can’t do anything to prevent this from happening. It will continue and continue to be more normalized whether we like it or not.


18

WOW ….I wonder who our next governor will be , since the current governor was allegedly voted into office by California voters . California’s former Attorney General AKA USA Vice President just attended a criminals funeral to promote her agenda and voter base . The 22% increase in gun homicides in permitless gun carry states could be from criminals being shot by the public during their crime sprees . Everyday far left politicians are depleting LE workforce numbers and discouraging new recruits from applying .. For over a year now constant TV commercials from CDCR looking for new recruits . As Newsom shutters prisons , CDCR is hurting for employees . IMO the transferred CDCR employees are opting to move out of California as they cannot afford to relocate within California’s borders . Possibly they could also be switching to non LE style jobs


16

“allegedly voted into office” “could be” “Possibly they”


Lol


-16
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