Three Democratic-led states — California, New York, and New Jersey — have moved forward with gun reform legislation following the deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two adults dead.
State action comes as Democrats in Congress vote on measures that include a federal red flag law and extended background checks, but there are still doubts about possible Republican cooperation.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Wednesday, just one day after the Texas shooting, that the state “would speed up common-sense weapons security laws that will protect people from armed violence.”
Newsom has pledged to sign a package of bills, including restrictions on the sale of firearms to minors and so-called ghost weapons, or unlicensed equipment to build untraceable firearms.
The bill would also create a “private right of action to limit the spread of illegal assault weapons and ghost weapons,” as well as allow victims of armed violence and governments to sue manufacturers and sellers. of firearms.
“As long as the U.S. Senate holds its hand and activist federal judges overturn common-sense gun laws across our country, California will act with the urgency that this crisis demands,” Newsom said in a statement. .
California also recently had its own deadly shooting, when one man allegedly killed one and injured several others in a Southern California church.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), meanwhile, has pushed for state lawmakers to raise the minimum age for buying an AR-15-style rifle at age 21, from the current 18-year limit.
“I don’t want 18-year-olds to have guns,” Hochul said at a meeting of the Interstate Working Group on Illegal Weapons, which includes representatives of nine-state law enforcement.
“I want to work with the legislature to do something that is much more common sense than we have now. At least the AR-15s, but I’ll take a look at everything, “he added.
The move comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, left 10 people dead in a grocery store.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has called for similar changes to his state.
In statements Wednesday, Murphy urged action on arms reform in the state, including a package he proposed.
“I introduced the full Gun Safety 3.0 package more than a year ago and that momentum demands that the legislature finally act,” he said, adding that “the proposed laws are not very revolutionary.”
“They would forget about the safe storage of weapons. They would make sure that those looking to buy a gun are really trained in the safe handling of that weapon,” Murphy said. “They would provide police tools to better follow the paths of firearms used to commit crimes. They would ban the sale of weapons that could drop helicopters.”
The reform policy package would also raise the minimum age for buying long guns to 21, ban 50-caliber firearms and close the gap for out-of-state gun imports, he said. the governor’s office.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, right on Wednesday at a press conference.
“You’re not doing anything,” O’Rourke said, a few feet from Abbott. “You said that was unpredictable, that it was totally predictable and that you decide to do nothing.”
California, New Jersey and New York rank in the top eight states in the United States for their strength in gun law compared to their rates of armed violence, according to an investigation by Everytown for Gun Safety.