California’s Gavin Newsom Officially Signs Broadest Red Flag Law

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law the broadest, far-reaching red flag statute in the country. The new policy enables co-workers, employers, teachers and more to seek restraining orders based on guns against others.

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Vetoed twice by former governor Jerry Brown, the new law goes way past anything the previous administration put into law. The previous law only gave the power to ultimately take guns away to law enforcement officers and immediate family members, after appearing before a judge, according to nbcsandiego.com. Even the Brady Campaign called the new laws singed by Newsom the nations’s toughest restrictions.

Gavin Newsom Signs Broadest Laws for Seizing Guns

“California has outperformed the rest of the nation, because of our gun safety laws, in reducing the gun murder rate substantially compared to the national reduction,” Newsom said, according to nbcsandiego.com. “No state does it as well or comprehensively as the state of California, and we still have a long way to go.”

From 1993 to 2017, California achieved a 62-percent decrease in gun murders. Meanwhile the national gun murder rate dropped by 34-percent, Newsom said, according to nbcsandiego.com. But, of course, California already boasted some of the strongest gun control laws in the country.

“With school and workplace shootings on the rise, it’s common sense to give the people we see every day the power to intervene and prevent tragedies,” said Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting, of San Francisco, the bill’s author, according to nbcsandiego.com.

Newsom also signed a companion bill allowing gun violence restraining orders to last up to five years, according to nbcsandiego.com. In that case, gun owners would have to petition just to get those restrictions lifted. The law requires co-workers requesting protective orders to have “substantial and regular interactions” with the gun owner. Both co-workers and school employees must gain approval from their employers or administrators, according to nbcsandiego.com. Those seeking the orders must also file sworn statements specifying their reasons.

Push back came from an often unlikely source, the American Civil Liberties Union. “The ACLU said the bill ‘poses a significant threat to civil liberties’ because orders can be sought before gun owners have an opportunity to contest the requests,” reported nbcsandiego.com.

When the ACLU sits on the side of the 2nd Amendment and seizing guns, you know it’s bad. Keep Reading