World

California to allow private lawsuits against gun ban violators in swipe at Texas law

2022.07.22 23:33

California to allow private lawsuits against gun ban violators in swipe at Texas law
FILE PHOTO: California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a law that would allow private citizens to sue people who sell, manufacture or distribute assault weapons and guns made at home to avoid tracing.

The law is a swipe at a Texas law that allows individuals to sue anyone who helps a woman obtain an illegal abortion in the state.

Newsom, a Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender, signed the California legislation on the same day he released an ad in Texas criticizing the state’s reproductive rights policies.

“If Texas is going to use this legal framework to essentially outlaw abortion and harm women, all with the Supreme Court’s blessing, California is going to use it to save lives and take AR-15s off our streets,” said State Senator Robert Hertzberg, a Democrat who co-authored the bill.

Newsom has pushed for the law since last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Texas law allowing the vigilante-style lawsuits.

“Our message to the criminals spreading illegal weapons in California is simple: you have no safe harbor here in the Golden State,” Newsom, who signed the bill in Santa Monica, said in a news release. “California will use every tool at its disposal to save lives, especially in the face of an increasingly extreme Supreme Court.”

In the ad placed in Texas newspapers, Newsom showed an anti-abortion quote by Republican Governor Greg Abbott that said abortion cost children their “right to life.”

Newsom replaced the word abortion with the phrase “gun violence,” changing the meaning of the quote to assert that gun violence was killing children rather than abortion.

He said the new California legislation was the state’s answer to “Texas’ perverse bill that placed bounties on doctors and patients.”

Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Newsom last week placed an ad in Florida criticizing that state’s conservative Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who, like Abbott, is considered likely to make a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

The ads, along with a recent trip to Washington, have prompted speculation that Newsom himself is planning to run for president. So far, he has said he is not intending to do so.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 67,486.08 1.42%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,407.69 1.83%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 0.998959 0.34%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 553.94 0.25%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 159.76 0.54%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999676 0.15%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.50836 1.70%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,410.12 1.67%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.15515 5.41%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.163542 0.52%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.74 0.22%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.324605 2.70%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,869.08 0.53%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 67,637.12 0.80%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000017 0.18%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 22.86 1.32%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 2,408.88 1.75%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 332.97 1.92%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 10.26 4.21%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.993406 0.82%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 6.03 1.52%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.76 0.28%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 1.86 0.03%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.40 0.36%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 3.59 1.78%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,531.87 1.85%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 8.00 0.88%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.79 2.84%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000008 1.00%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 7.06 0.50%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.99956 0.23%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 418.08 2.48%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 160.84 2.86%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.12 0.08%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.18%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.091094 0.46%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 18.93 0.08%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.60 0.59%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.101437 6.80%
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.992328 1.01%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 37.46 0.11%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.290439 3.87%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 1.45 1.06%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.32 0.19%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 1.98 1.78%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.070993 0.34%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 127.48 2.84%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.472012 1.10%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.552181 1.16%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 4.33 3.43%