"I have directed my staff to work with the Legislature and the Attorney General on a bill that would create a right of action allowing private citizens to seek injunctive relief, and statutory damages of at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees, against anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California," Newsom said in a statement. "If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that.”
"He's basically saying, 'OK, I'll see your opinion in the Texas abortion case, and I'll raise you a new gun control law,'" said Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
"I think that it was really just a matter of moments until there was some blue state governor that was going to say, OK, the Supreme Court's told us exactly how we can pass laws, try and evade judicial review. So I'm going to go ahead and pass a law that protects X, Y or Z," Levinson added.
Even Newsom's staff seemed caught off guard by the Saturday night policy pronouncement. There was no evidence of the kind of staff work and research that often goes into a major new policy before it's released.
Although California has some of the toughest gun laws on the books, the state has had more than its share of mass shootings in recent years. There have been shooting sprees at a synagogue in Poway, near the UC Santa Barbara campus, at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy and most recently at the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority where a disgruntled employee shot and killed nine people before turning the gun on himself.
Crimes like those and gun violence in general are often carried out with weapons banned in California. One of the people working to create the legislation Gov. Newsom wants is California Attorney General Rob Bonta. His legal strategy is based on the anti-abortion law in Texas that allows lawsuits against anyone who provides or aids in an abortion.
"Generally private individuals could provide a force multiplier to support our common sense gun safety laws to make more people safe and save more lives," Bonta said.
Bay Area attorney Travis Silva, who is working with the office of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin to sue makers of ghost guns, thinks Newsom's idea is spot on. He says ghost guns are quickly proliferating and make up a large portion of guns recovered by law enforcement.
"They don't conduct background checks. They don't ensure that there's a serial number on the firearm, and they don't verify that the person who is purchasing the ghost gun is eligible to obtain a firearm," Silva said.
"These companies are circumventing those requirements and they're doing it openly, and notoriously. Targeting these companies and their practices is appropriate. It's appropriate to have a legislative response to that kind of business practice."
Even some supporters of the Texas law worried in briefs filed with the Supreme Court that this legal framework could backfire, said Sarah Parshall Perry with the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
"I think there are conservatives who are concerned that there is going to be sort of a copycat effort," Perry said.
She says the Supreme Court is giving a road map to challenge all kinds of rights by blocking off federal courts as a way to challenge state officials who implement the laws.
"Particularly disfavored constitutional rights, whether that's freedom of speech, freedom of religion or the Second Amendment," she said.
Others would add the right of same sex couples to marry.
California Assemblyman Mike Gipson, a former cop from Los Angeles, has authored legislation against ghost guns. He's eager to carry Gov. Newsom’s latest gun control idea.
"California is unique and other states follow California, and we hope that they will follow this lead, once it gets on the governor's desk and signed into law," Gipson said.
Of course, there’s a long way between an idea and a law, especially a controversial one like this that challenges a right enshrined in the Second Amendment. That said, it seems to be a fight Governor Newsom would relish.
