California: 2nd mass shooting in 3 days after governor calls Second Amendment a ‘suicide pact’

California Governor Gavin Newsom Monday called the Second Amendment a “suicide pact” following a mass shooting in Monterey Park Saturday which killed 11 people and wounded at least nine others. 

Newsom made the remarks during a CBS interview in which he called for more gun restrictions, despite the gunman having used a modified pistol which is currently illegal in California. 

"Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating," he told CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell. "The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact." 

Newsom added that he had "no ideological opposition" against those who “reasonably and responsibly” own guns and are approved by the government to do so. 

“How did he get a gun that’s illegal in the State of California?” O’Donnell asked Newsom. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Newsom replied. “That’s going to happen. . . . You got to enforce laws, things fall through the cracks, but it doesn’t mean you give up.” 

The governor also boasted that data vindicate his staunch anti-Second Amendment policies. 

“And the data bears out, it works, it saves lives. California’s 37% less than the death rate in the rest of the nation. And yet with all that evidence no [Republican] seems to give a damn and they can’t get anything done in Congress.” 

The 37% figure cited by Newsom comes from a score issued by Giffords, an anti-gun organization which rates California, New York, Maryland and Illinois as having the lowest gun death rates in the nation. 

But according to an FBI analysis of mass shootings between 2000-2019, California leads the nation by far in mass gun violence with 42 shootings, a detail not mentioned by Giffords. There were three more mass shootings in California between 2020 and 2022. 

Indeed, shortly after his remarks to CBS Monday, Newsom was notified of another mass shooting which took place in Half Moon Bay, California near San Francisco. The gunman killed seven people and wounded one other. 

Newsom referred to the two mass shootings in three days as “Tragedy upon tragedy”.