Newsom applauds Biden's actions to reduce gun violence

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement on President Biden’s visit to Monterey Park and newly announced federal executive actions to reduce gun violence:

“California is grateful for President Biden’s efforts today to strengthen our gun laws and make our streets, schools, and communities safer,” said Governor Newsom. “Simply put, it’s the right thing to do. While some Republican leaders are focused on endangering our children and making law enforcement’s job harder, California and the Biden Administration have worked to save lives and end the epidemic of gun violence that has plagued our nation for too long. Now, it’s time for Congress to step up and do their job.”With gun violence claiming the lives of over 110 Americans a day, California’s nation-leading gun safety laws serve as a valuable blueprint for other states and Congress to save lives. California’s gun safety laws work. In its most recent scorecard, California ranked as the #1 state for gun safety by the Giffords Law Center, and in 2021, the state saw a 37% lower gun death rate than the national average. According to the CDC, California’s gun death rate was the 44th lowest in the nation, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people – compared to 13.7 deaths per 100,000 nationally, 28.6 in Mississippi, 20.7 in Oklahoma, and 14.2 in Texas. Building on California’s decades of leadership, Governor Newsom has taken historic action to reduce gun violence. Last summer, the Governor signed a package of gun safety laws, making it easier for Californians to sue manufacturers of illegal assault weapons and those spreading them, allowing lawsuits against irresponsible gun industry members, strengthening prohibitions on ghost guns, and restricting marketing to minors. California has also launched an 18-month campaign to promote gun violence restraining orders – “red flag laws” – that allow law enforcement, family, coworkers or friends to petition a court to temporarily remove weapons from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. A study from the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis found that California’s red flag law has been used to stop 58 threatened mass shootings since 2016.