Newsom signs gun control bill inspired by Texas abortion ban
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed Senate Bill 1327, a gun control law modeled on the Texas abortion ban known as SB 8, CNN reported. Both pieces of legislation rely on private citizens, not police, to enforce the law.
Specifically, SB 1327 empowers Californians to bring civil action — for a minimum of $10,000 per gun — against licensed dealers who sell firearms to people under 21. It also allows for lawsuits against anyone who manufactures, distributes, transports, or imports assault weapons or ghost guns in California.
Newsom's comments on the bill suggest that it's intended less as a serious piece of legislation than as an way of proving a point. "We believe this will be litigated in the Supreme Court and we believe the Supreme Court will be challenged. Because if there's any principle left whatsoever — and that's an open-ended question with this Supreme Court — there is no way they can deny us the right to move in this direction," Newsom said after signing the bill.
The California gun law contains a provision that would make it "inoperative upon invalidation" of the Texas abortion law.
The U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court have both rejected challenges to SB 8, but the fall of Roe v. Wade (1973) may have rendered the point moot. Texas is now able to enforce its pre-Roe abortion law, which bans the procedure at all stages unless the life of the mother is at risk.