On the morning of this Thursday, June 8, the governor Gavin Newsom proposed the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution to enshrine fundamental and widely endorsed gun safety measures into law, thereby ending the nation's gun violence crisis.
While leaving the 2nd Amendment unchanged and respecting the tradition of gun ownership, the proposal seeks to ensure common-sense constitutional protections and gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, independent voters and gun owners support.
Such measures include universal background checks and raising the firearms purchase age to 21, instituting a waiting period for the purchase of firearms, and prohibiting the civilian purchase of assault weapons.
"Amendment 28 will enshrine in the Constitution common-sense gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and gun owners overwhelmingly support, while Amendment 2 remains unchanged and respects America's gun ownership tradition." United States," Newsom said.
Notably, the 28th Amendment will permanently enshrine four widely supported gun safety principles in the US Constitution:
- Raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21;
- Require universal background checks to prevent truly dangerous people from buying a gun that could be used in a crime;
- Institute a reasonable waiting period for all gun purchases; and
- Ban civilian purchase of assault weapons, which have no other purpose than to kill as many people as possible in a short period of time.
In addition, the 28th Amendment will affirm that Congress, states, and local governments can enact additional life-saving firearm safety regulations.
Passage of the 28th Amendment will require a convention to propose amendments to the US Constitution, also known as the Article V Convention or amendment convention.
Working in partnership with members of the California State Senate and Assembly, this will be the first state in the nation to convene such a convention with a joint resolution introduced by California Senator Aisha Wahab and Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer.
Governor Newsom said he will work with grassroots supporters, elected and civic leaders, and broad and diverse coalitions across the country to fight for passage of similar resolutions in other state legislatures to secure the convening of a limited constitutional convention on this issue.
Thirty-three other states, plus California, would have to take steps to convene such a convention.
"A man of action, Governor Gavin Newsom has the backbone to do something about the gun fetish culture around weapons of war and address the unrelenting problem of gun violence and mass shootings," said the Senator Aisha Wahab. "As someone affected by gun violence, I have an obligation to raise the voices of the victims and those of us left behind by the tragedy."
For his part, Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer said that “we cannot stand idly by as the courts backtrack on our work and diminish the ability of our Legislature to keep Californians safe. This bold but just resolution calls on other states to join us in protecting some of the most effective ways to reduce gun violence."
California was ranked the number one state for gun safety by the Giffords Law Center, and according to the most recent data, the state had a rate of gun deaths that was 37 percent lower than the national average. .
According to the CDC, California's firearm death rate was the 44th lowest in the country, with 8.5 firearm deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 13.7 deaths per 100,000 nationally. 28.6 in Mississippi, 20.7 in Oklahoma, and 14.2 in Texas.
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