Governor Newsom Urges Court of Appeals to Uphold California’s Assault Weapons Ban

SACRAMENTO – Ahead of oral arguments in Miller v. Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a statement urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold California’s lifesaving assault weapons ban.

“The Court has a simple choice: uphold one of the nation’s best tools for keeping people safe from gun violence or put millions at risk in the name of the extremist gun lobby.

When guns are the biggest killers of our kids, there is no place for assault weapons – weapons of war – on our streets and in our communities.”

Governor Gavin Newsom

CALIFORNIA’S GUN SAFETY LEADERSHIP:

✔️ California’s gun laws are ranked #1 in the nation, according to the Giffords Law Center and Everytown.

✔️ If every state followed California’s gun safety policy lead, it’s estimated that nearly 300,000 lives would be saved over the next 10 years.

✔️ California has a 43% lower gun death rate than the national average and according to the CDC, California’s gun death rate is the 44th lowest in the nation, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people – substantially lower than states like Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.

✔️ California’s red flag laws helped prevent at least 58 potential mass shootings since 2016, according to the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis.

✔️  California’s gun homicide rates for women and children are substantially lower than the rest of the nation, according to the California Department of Justice. From 2018 to 2022, California’s gun homicide rate for female victims was 46% below the national average — and 57% below the national average for children victims aged 14 and under.

Since 2019, California has strengthened its nation-leading gun safety laws by making it easier for Californians to sue manufacturers of illegal assault weapons and those bringing them into our communities, allowing lawsuits against irresponsible members of the gun industry, strengthening prohibitions on ghost guns, and restricting marketing to minors. California is the first state in the nation to call for a Constitutional Convention for gun safety.