Before the Supreme Court considers Whole Women’s Health, v. Jackson United States v. TexasFirearms Policy Coalition warned against the imposition of pre-enforcement obstacles to Texas S.B. Blue states would be able to limit Second Amendment rights. Both a briefing on the merits and a cert petition raised concerns.
California Governor Gavin Newsom proposes to take exactly what was feared by the FPC in response to Supreme Court decisions. This statement was issued by Governor Newsom Saturday.
“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. If states are now able to shield their laws against review by federal courts, which compare assault weapons with Swiss Army knives then California can use this authority to protect lives where Texas did it to harm women’s.
My staff was directed to assist the Legislature and Attorney General in drafting a bill which would allow private citizens to file a claim for injunctive relief as well as statutory damages up to $10,000 per violation and costs of attorney’s fee against anyone manufacturing, distributing, or selling an assault weapon, ghost gun kit, or part in California. We should add private lawsuits to the list if we want to prevent these deadly weapons from being on our streets.
Firearms Policy Coalition responded by saying “we told you so” and promising to fight Gov. Newsom challenges constitutionally enumerated right.
It will be fascinating to see if California follows this path. 8 strategy. California may be afraid to create firearm offenses that can’t be prosecuted or charged by the government. California might seek to pass legislation that could impose potentially devastating liability on gun makers, like some of the plaintiffs lawyers did.
A second point worth noting is that prior to S.B. 8. Most anti-abortion legislation prior to S.B. It was this aspect that led to the Texas law being so specific. However, most gun regulations have been upheld in federal courts, particularly the Ninth Circuit — although that could change if it is requested by the Supreme Court to review laws affecting the rights of keeping and bearing arms.