California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will seek legislation, modeled after a restrictive Texas abortion ban, to allow private citizens to sue those who manufacture, distribute, or sell assault weapons or “ghost guns.”
The Democrat made the announcement Saturday evening, citing the Supreme Court decision Friday not to block the Texas law while it allows abortion providers to proceed with their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a ban on most abortions after six weeks of gestation.
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place, and largely endorsing Texas’s scheme to insulate its law from the fundamental protections of Roe v. Wade. But if states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way,” Newsom said.
https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1469865185493983234
Under TX S.B. 8 , abortions are prohibited after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks, and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. The Texas law allow individuals to bring a civil action against anyone who performs or “aids or abets” a prohibited abortion. Successful plaintiffs get at least $10,000 and legal fees reimbursed, details which are matched in the California governor’s proposal.
Newsom said he has directed his staff to work with the state legislature and attorney general to create a bill that would “would create a right of action allowing private citizens to seek injunctive relief, and statutory damages of at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees, against anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California.”
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The Firearms Policy Coalition, a California-based nonprofit group, filed an amicus brief in support of the abortion providers in their suit against the Texas law, warning that the state’s “scheme” would “serve as a model for deterring and suppressing the exercise of numerous constitutional rights,” including those enshrined under the Second Amendment.
The group, which scored a victory in court in June when a federal judge overturned California’s longtime ban on assault weapons (although a federal appeals court panel put a hold on the ruling while litigation continues), issued a statement Saturday saying it is prepared to keep up the fight in state courts and up to the Supreme Court.
“If Gavin Newsom wants to play a game of constitutional chicken, we will prevail,” the group said.
Ghost guns are made with 3D-printers or with the help of kits and typically lack any serial number, making them hard to trace. After President Joe Biden previewed a crackdown on ghost guns in April, his administration proposed restrictions, which California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he supports.
“If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that,” Newsom said.
