Newsom Demands Stricter Federal Gun Laws, But Legislative Reality Is Bleak
The gun used in Saturday's Monterey Park shooting — CNN reported that it was a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic weapon compatible with 30-round magazines — was likely illegal to possess in California. However, the shooter could have legally obtained it in another state. As gun rights advocates point out, gun control only truly works if every state does it.
CBS News:
Gavin Newsom After Monterey Park Shooting: 'Second Amendment Is Becoming A Suicide Pact'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is renewing his calls for stricter gun control measures following the mass shooting at a dance hall in Monterey Park on Saturday that killed at least 11 people and injured nine others. "Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating," he told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell on Monday. "The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact." Newsom clarified that he has "no ideological opposition" against people who "responsibly" own guns and get background checks and training on how to use them. But he told O'Donnell that current regulations are falling short. (Yilek, 1/23)
Vox:
Why California’s Strict Gun Control Laws Didn’t Stop The Monterey Park Shooter
The shooting in Monterey Park, California has led to new calls to tighten Califonia’s gun laws. The gun used in the Saturday attack was likely illegal to possess in California, however, and it’s not clear whether the gunman obtained it by legal means. ... It’s not clear how the shooter obtained the gun, which was a Cobray M11 9mm semi-automatic weapon compatible with 30-round magazines, CNN reported. It’s also not clear whether the shooter legally obtained a second weapon recovered from inside his van — a handgun that he used to fatally shoot himself. The second weapon can be bought in California; the first has been banned in the state for more than three decades. (Narea, 1/23)
Politico:
California Lawmakers Face Supreme Court Limits As They Weigh Response To Lunar New Year Shooting
Calls for legislative action following the mass shooting at a dance hall outside Los Angeles were tempered Monday by a hard reality: The legal landscape for gun laws has never looked so bleak. A Supreme Court decision in June voided New York’s concealed carry law while also encouraging challenges to restrictions elsewhere — including California’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. (Korte, White and Nieves, 1/23)
The Hill:
Biden Lauds Senate Democrats Who Introduce Bill To Ban Assault Weapons
President Biden on Monday praised a contingent of Senate Democrats who earlier in the day introduced a pair of bills to ban military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines as well as raise the age of purchasing them to 21 years old. ... Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) introduced bills one day after a gunman shot and killed 11 people at a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park. (Sforza, 1/23)
The New York Times:
Biden Pushes For Assault Weapons Ban After California Shootings
As Californians were dealing with a mass shooting in Monterey Park, the White House on Monday said it had reintroduced sweeping gun control measures in the Senate that seek to renew the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. ... The 1994 ban, which passed as part of a broader crime bill championed by Mr. Biden, then a senator, blocked the sale of 19 specific weapons that have the features of guns used by the military, including semiautomatic rifles and certain types of shotguns and handguns. It also outlawed magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. People who already had such weapons were allowed to keep them. (Yoon, 1/24)
The Hill:
Newsom Blasts Fox News Primetime Over Gun Coverage: ‘It’s A Disgrace’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) criticized Fox News primetime hosts over coverage of mass shootings and gun violence in the U.S., calling it a “disgrace.” “It’s a disgrace what they say, what these people say every single night,” Newsom told reporters, according to ABC 10. “There’s xenophobia, they’re racial priming, what they have done to perpetuate crime and violence in this country, by scapegoating, and by doing not a damn thing about gun safety, not a damn thing for decades.” (Sforza, 1/23)
Salon.com:
What Gun Control Studies Tell Us About How To Stop Violence, According To Experts
The fact that many research studies do suggest that certain laws stop gun violence might seem like a regulatory slam dunk. But experts also warned that there's an enormous caveat: First, that there are many different ways in which firearms can be used to commit crimes; and second, as fervent gun rights absolutists might point out, the studies which analyze firearm control legislation by their nature study correlation rather than causation. (Rozsa, 1/24)
In related news about gun control in Colorado and Illinois —
The Colorado Sun:
Colorado Bill Banning So-Called Assault Weapons Would Outlaw Sale — Not Possession — Of Such Guns
The sale and attempted sale of so-called assault weapons would be banned in Colorado under a bill set to be introduced by Democrats in the legislature this year. But possession of such firearms in the state would still be allowed. (Paul and Wenzler, 1/23)
The New York Times:
Illinois Passed A Sweeping Ban On High-Powered Guns. Now Come The Lawsuits
When Illinois legislators passed a far-reaching ban recently on selling certain high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines, the Democrats who run the state celebrated it as a lifesaving law that would help prevent mass violence. But on Friday, in the law’s first judicial test, a state judge in Effingham County temporarily blocked it from being enforced against hundreds of people and several gun dealers who sued. That ruling, a preliminary step and one of several legal tests the law is likely to face, came amid broad uncertainty about whether sweeping gun controls like those in Illinois can withstand judicial scrutiny following a Supreme Court decision in a New York case last year. Within days of Gov. J.B. Pritzker signing the Illinois legislation, at least three lawsuits were filed challenging it in state and federal courts. (Smith, 1/20)
Fox News:
Illinois Sheriff Refuses To Enforce New Gun Control Law: ‘Clear Violation Of The 2nd Amendment’
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick has come under attack from Illinois state lawmakers after he issued a statement refusing to enforce a gun control law in favor of his higher oath to the U.S. Constitution. He also said that he would not apprehend "law-abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act." (Clark, 1/24)
