California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to use the legal tactics behind Texas’ six-week abortion ban as a way to ban assault weapons in his state.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas can continue with its controversial law barring abortion procedures after the first six weeks of pregnancy by giving private citizens the ability to initiate civil suits against anyone who assists in an abortion. In response to the ruling, Newsom has begun drafting a bill that would similarly allow private citizens to bring civil suits against “anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California.”
“If states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way,” Newsom said in a statement.