Thursday, June 08, 2023

An Amendment to the 2nd Amendment

As I type this, search of "Newsom" on the CNN web site fails to turn up this story.

California governor Gavin Newsollini wants to gut the 2nd Amendment.  If you want to gut a right that's in the Bill of Rights, might that indicate you're a wannabe tyrant?

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to change the Constitution to curb gun rights. 

Fed up with inaction on gun control, Newsom unveiled a proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution on Thursday that would implement "commonsense" gun safety measures he claims have widespread bipartisan support.

"Our ability to make a more perfect union is literally written into the Constitution," Newsom said Thursday. "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 commonsense gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and gun owners overwhelmingly support — while leaving the Second Amendment unchanged and respecting America’s gun-owning tradition."

Newsom's proposal comes after federal courts have delivered a series of victories for gun rights activists, led by the Supreme Court's landmark decision last year striking down a century-old New York law that made it difficult to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun. 

The Democratic governor's proposed 28th Amendment would not abolish the Second Amendment, which establishes a right to bear firearms for personal self-defense. However, it would raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21; mandate universal background checks to purchase firearms; institute a waiting period for all gun purchases; and ban "assault weapons." 

Newsom's proposed amendment would also affirm that Congress, states and local governments can enact additional gun control measures. 

It's clear that this proposed amendment would never pass pass, the constitutional hurdles are just too high.  By proposing it, though, Newsollini is merely demonstrating his leftie bona fides without any cost to himself.  In fact, he'll probably use California taxpayer money and employees to do this just to stir up a few headlines for himself.

Even the text of this proposed "amendment" is problematic.  It sounds like legislation, not something that should be in a constitution.  The US Constitution has about 7600 words, including amendments; according to Wikipedia, California's has about 77,000 words, and I don't know if that includes amendments.  The US Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789, the California constitution has been amended 517 times since the current state constitution was adopted in 1879.  Just for giggles, a search of the California constitution for "almond" or "almonds" turns up 9 different references, including in the Food and Agricultural Code, the Vehicle Code, the Government Code, the Health and Safety Code, and the Education Code sections.  My point?  You can get just about anything put into California's constitution.  The US Constitution should be preserved for weighty issues, not for every opinion like California's constitution.

Bottom line?  I despise California's tyrant governor.  And he wants to be president.

3 comments:

  1. It annoys me that these would-be tyrants can't just up and move to a place which has all the things they want (like, say, Canada). Instead, they want to impose their dystopian idiocies on everybody else.
    And there's nowhere else for the rest of us to go, anymore.

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  2. I've been looking for the proposed amendment text. Got a link?

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  3. No, and I'm not even sure he's drafted one, just said what he wants in it. Details here:
    https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/06/08/28th-amendment/

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