Courting a fight on guns

Sep 26, 2023

LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY: That didn’t take long. Gun rights advocates sued the state today – just minutes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law new rules on concealed weapons permits.

Never mind that the legislation, Senate Bill 2, was specifically tailored to get around limits set by the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Bruen” ruling on firearm restrictions.

“With Gov. Newsom’s signing of SB2 today, California continues to exhibit its disdain for the rights of Californians, the U.S. Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, general counsel of the Firearms Policy Coalition, said in a statement.

Newsom and other California officials are eager for the fight.

Newsom today signed a slate of gun regulations, including SB 2. The legislation by state Sen. Anthony Portantino specifies that licensed owners can’t carry concealed weapons in “sensitive areas,” such as schools, parks, voting booths, sporting arenas and public transit. It also bars issuing permits to people charged with certain crimes, including the reckless use of a firearm.

Newsom stood alongside legislators and Attorney General Rob Bonta this morning to celebrate the signing.

"We're taking action to ensure that those we trust to carry firearms in public are responsible, law-abiding citizens,” Bonta said, referencing the Supreme Court’s decision. “This bill follows the blueprint of the Bruen decision. It is Bruen-compliant.”

Newsom has made gun regulation a key plank of his platform as he continues to grow his national profile. The Legislature earlier this year passed his resolution calling for a constitutional convention to craft an amendment to regulate firearms, including a national assault weapons ban.

The governor this morning also signed Assembly Bill 28, by Jesse Gabriel, installing an 11 percent tax on ammunition and firearms. Newsom has been reluctant to approve new taxes and some advocates worried he might veto this measure, which would generate about $160 million per year for programs to prevent gun violence.

"I see this a little bit differently," he told reporters. "This is not a general income tax, or a corporate tax. This is, in my perspective, more of a sin tax."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, left, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Sept.26, 2023. Newsom also signed a measure by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, second from left, and a bill by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Los Angeles County, third from left. Second from right is California Attorney General Rob Bonta. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) | AP

HAPPY TUESDAY AFTERNOON! Welcome to California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to rbluth@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

MODERATE COMPETITION: Daniel Lurie is pitching himself as the tough-on-homelessness, pro-police leader San Francisco needs, and he’s hoping that voters fed up with the city’s encampments and crime will make him mayor.

The nonprofit executive, and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, is hoping voters reject incumbent Mayor London Breed. Pitching himself as an outsider and centrist, Lurie says he will open more shelter beds and let police sweep the city of encampments.

Breed is pushing back on the idea she hasn’t acted on homelessness. She announced a measure today that would require that people on public assistance submit to drug testing. She’s criticized judicial decisions to stop homeless encampment sweeps and accused the city’s homelessness coalition of not doing enough. The problem, she said, is the result of decades of housing policy, pandemic years and a drug crisis that are all outside of her control.

ON THE BEATS

THREE’S A PARTY: Tony Thurmond wants to go where no state schools superintendent has gone before: the governor’s mansion. He joined former Controller Betty Yee and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in the 2026 governor’s race this morning, becoming the third (but certainly not the last) candidate in the field. In his first campaign video, he fist-bumped a striking worker and called for a higher state minimum wage, setting in motion a campaign that labor unions could make or break. He was propelled to statewide office by education unions, including the influential California Teachers Association – but there’s no word yet on whether he’ll earn their support in 2026. The CTA and CFT, the state’s second-largest education union, won’t make endorsements for at least two years. – Blake Jones

TAX BACK AND FORTH: The escalating battle between government and business groups over a ballot initiative to curb new taxes again ramped up today as Newsom and state lawmakers asked the California Supreme Court to keep the business-backed measure off the ballot.

The tax-reform measure, championed by the California Business Roundtable, would make it harder to raise state and local taxes. Newsom and state lawmakers argue the proposal is unconstitutional. A rebuttal measure from Democratic state lawmakers, seemingly aimed at undercutting the Business Roundtable proposal’s chance of passing, is already expected to appear on the March ballot.

WHAT WE'RE FOLLOWING

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION: A San Diego-area woman who was among 76 people granted clemency by former President Donald Trump on his last day in office is in trouble again. Federal prosecutors charged Adriana Isabel Camberos, previously known by her married name as Adriana Shayota, in an 11-count indictment with an alleged fraud similar to the one that landed her a 26-month prison sentence that was commuted at the half-way point by Trump as he was pardoning better-known figures such as Steve Bannon and former Rep. Randall “Duke” Cunningham. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

THE UNION LABEL: President Joe Biden picked up the endorsement today of the United Farm Workers, the iconic union whose founder, the late Cesar Chavez, was the grandfather of Biden 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. (Los Angeles Times). It comes the same day that Biden was planning to visit Michigan and march on the picket line with striking members of the United Auto Workers.

NOT ON TARGET: Retailer Target announced today that it would close nine outlets, including three in the Bay Area, largely because of organized retail theft. The Bay Area locations are in downtown San Francisco, Pittsburg and Oakland. (The San Francisco Standard)

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