Jan 24, 2023
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) continues to build his national profile in the wake of two mass shootings in his state, using familiar talking points on gun control - even though his own anti-gun legislation has fizzled. The shootings - one in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles, that left 11 dead and nine wounded on Saturday, and another series of shootings in Half Moon Bay that left seven dead and more injured - have shocked the state. In both cases, the suspect was an older Asian male, robbing Democrats of their usual talking point about white supremacist violence, and denying them the opportunity to blame political opponents, though some still tried: But Democrats continued to push for gun control, and that is where Newsom jumped in. He used catch phrases such as calling guns "weapon[s] of pure mass destruction," and calling the Second Amendment a "suicide pact." It is not clear what either of those phrases is intended to mean. Millions of Californians own guns for
