After California Governor Gavin Newsom reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision last Friday to leave a Texas anti-abortion law in place by pledging, “If that’s the precedent then we’ll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets,” state Sen. Bryan Hughes, author of the Texas pro-life law, fired back, “Good luck with that.”
Hughes’ bill effectively blocks abortion after about six weeks into the pregnancy. Newsom stated on Twitter on Saturday, “SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?! If that’s the precedent then we’ll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets. If TX can ban abortion and endanger lives, CA can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives.”
SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?!
If that's the precedent then we'll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets.
If TX can ban abortion and endanger lives, CA can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives. https://t.co/N5Iur9PEUZ
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) December 12, 2021
Newsom also issued a statement on Saturday reading:
I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place, and largely endorsing Texas’s scheme to insulate its law from the fundamental protections of Roe v. Wade. But 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.
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. 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.
Hughes told The Texas Tribune on Monday, “I would tell Gov. Newsom good luck with that.”
He added, “If California takes that route, they’ll find that California gun owners will violate the law knowing that they’ll be sued and knowing that the Supreme Court has their back because the right to keep and bear arms is clearly in the Constitution, and the courts have clearly and consistently upheld it.”
Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life of East Texas, said of Newsom’s scheme regarding guns, “You know, I think that’s fine….If there are people here who really don’t like the abortion ban enough to move out of Texas, then maybe California is best for them. This is something all across our nation, if you don’t like something, you can leave.”
Erik S. Jaffe, a lawyer for the Firearms Policy Coalition, argued, “I have no doubt that legislatures hostile to firearms and the Second Amendment will use either some or all of the tactics that Texas has used.”