CA Gov Gavin Newsom: ‘The Second Amendment Is Becoming A Suicide Pact’ Amid Two Mass Shootings In His State

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the Second Amendment a “suicide pact” in the wake of two mass shootings in his state.

Speaking to CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on Monday, in the wake of the mass shooting in the city of Monterey Park, Newsom attacked the constitutionally-protected right to bear arms. He repeated claims that the U.S. is unique among the countries of the world because of mass shootings. He also took aim at high-capacity gun magazines and pushed for more restrictions on them.

“The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact, it feels like,” said Newsom. “And that’s the only question the community wants [answered]: how are you going to — what about our kids when they’re going to school? What more can we do? And you know, again, we look at that all the time. I mean, we did another half-dozen gun safety bills last year, we’ll continue to find whatever loopholes we can, we’ll continue to lead the national conversation on gun safety reform.”

“And the data bears out,” Newsom added. “It works. It saves lives. California [has a] 37% lower gun death rate than the rest of the nation. And yet, with all that evidence, no one on the other side seems to give a d***. I can’t get anything done in Congress.”

“This Second Amendment’s becoming a suicide pact, it feels like,” Gov. Gavin Newsom tells @NorahODonnell in Monterey Park. “California’s 37% lower than the death rate of the rest of the nation, and yet, with all that evidence, no one on the other side seems to give a damn.” pic.twitter.com/tSz7oawXtR

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 24, 2023

But Newsom seemed to backpedal on his remarks later in the interview, claiming that he respects lawful gun owners. “Yeah, I have great respect,” he said. “I have no ideological opposition with someone reasonably and responsibly owning firearms and getting background checks and being trained and making sure they’re locked so their kid doesn’t accidentally shoot themselves or a loved one. Absolutely not. Never suggested that. That’s what they immediately do. ‘He wants to take away your guns.’ I just want to take away weapons of war that are illegal on the streets of California and should be illegal across the United States. I mean, literally, just use common sense.”

Large capacity magazines do not belong on our streets. pic.twitter.com/kvYXFQBOQs

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 24, 2023

Newsom went on, blasting the phenomenon of mass shootings as a uniquely American problem, and took aim at high-capacity magazines. “It’s always a weapon of mass destruction, isn’t it?” Newsom quipped. “I mean, I get it. We can talk about the anomalous nature of this, and it certainly is. But what is also anomalous is the fact that there’s a pattern here in the United States of America, these mass shootings that don’t exist anywhere else in the world, at least the free world. And maybe that should be the fundamental focus: large-capacity clips. Just insane. There’s no justification. Period. Full stop. It’s just insane. These people are perpetuating lunacy and should be ashamed of themselves.”

Ten people were killed, and another 10 were injured, in a mass shooting during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park Saturday night. The shooting occurred in a dance studio in the predominately Asian community, located about 10 miles east of Los Angeles. The shooter was identified as a man of Asian descent between 30 and 50 years old; he was not named by local police and will not be named in accordance with Daily Wire policy against naming mass shooters. The man was reportedly also connected to a second incident in nearby Alhambra.

Around the time Newsom was filming his CBS interview on Monday, another mass shooting took place in the city of Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. The alleged gunman opened fire at a mushroom farm where he worked, killing four people and injuring one more, then reportedly drove to a second location where he killed three more people. He was arrested in the parking lot of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Monday afternoon.