{"id":96030,"date":"2023-09-15T12:11:50","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T17:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=96030"},"modified":"2023-09-15T12:11:50","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T17:11:50","slug":"96030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=96030","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

California passes call for constitutional convention on guns<\/a><\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom floated his idea for a 28th Amendment that would codify certain gun control measures into the Constitution and called for a constitutional convention to pass it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of hilarious because gun control advocates can\u2019t get these things passed as actual laws at the federal level, but they\u2019re sure getting them in as a constitutional amendment would be easier.<\/p>\n

Apparently, none of them ever took civics.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Newsom\u2019s effort required the state legislature to actually pass a call for a constitutional convention. On Thursday,\u00a0the legislature did just that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

California lawmakers on Thursday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s resolution calling for a constitutional convention of the states to consider a new amendment on gun control, a politically astute yet seemingly unattainable proposal from the Democratic leader.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The governor introduced the proposal on national television over the summer, boosting his profile in the culture wars between Democrats and Republicans at a time when many voters feel increasingly frustrated over the lack of action in Washington to address mass shootings that have anguished communities all over the country. But constitutional scholars have warned that Newsom\u2019s plan could be risky by opening the door for other changes to the U.S. Constitution if a convention took place.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s resolution asks Congress to call a constitutional convention to allow states to approve an amendment that imposes new laws requiring universal background checks on gun purchases, raises the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, institutes a \u201creasonable waiting\u201d period for all gun purchases and prohibits the sale of assault weapons to the public. The resolution also calls for states to be able to approve an amendment to affirm that federal, state and local governments may adopt safety regulations limiting firearm sales, possession and carrying guns in public.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For Newsom\u2019s proposed 28th Amendment to be considered, legislatures in two-thirds of the states must vote in favor of a constitutional convention.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, to be fair, according to Common Cause\u00a028 states have already called<\/a>\u00a0for a convention, with California being the 29th.<\/p>\n

So it would really just take a few more to reach that threshold.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Robert A. Schapiro, dean of the University of San Diego School of Law, and other scholars note that it\u2019s hard to imagine that the gun control protections would be approved even if a convention were called. Republicans control<\/span>\u00a0more than half of the state legislatures<\/a>, some of which have recently reduced gun restrictions, and amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become law.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They also contend that if a constitutional conventional did take place, it\u2019s possible for Republican states to propose other amendments to ban abortion or gay marriage, for example, through the untested process.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, as Common Cause notes at the previous link, there aren\u2019t any rules for a constitutional convention outlined in the Constitution. While California wants Newsom\u2019s proposal, there\u2019s absolutely no way to limit a convention to just that.<\/p>\n

Plus, as also noted, even if you did get everyone willing to talk about guns, there\u2019s little chance Newsom\u2019s proposal would go anywhere at all. Granted, I don\u2019t think some of the other things would go anywhere, either, but they\u2019re at least as strong of a possibility as any gun control proposal.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not like this wasn\u2019t discussed prior to this passing, either. It\u2019s been brought up repeatedly. Newsom, however, either thinks he can win this or\u2013and I think this is more likely\u2013he knows he can\u2019t and is just grandstanding for an eventual presidential run.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Either way, California is now calling for a constitutional convention and we\u2019re one step closer to seeing that happen.<\/p>\n

What will follow should make for some very interesting battles, but that\u2019s for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For today, Newsom and the California legislature just opened the door for all sorts of other things due to their myopic view of guns. It\u2019ll be interesting to see if history ultimately vilifies them for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California passes call for constitutional convention on guns California Gov. Gavin Newsom floated his idea for a 28th Amendment that would codify certain gun control measures into the Constitution and called for a constitutional convention to pass it. It\u2019s kind of hilarious because gun control advocates can\u2019t get these things passed as actual laws at … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goobermint","category-rights","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96031,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96030\/revisions\/96031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}