Irked by Congress' failure to enact the gun control laws he favors, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing a "28th Amendment" that would "permanently enshrine" those policies in the U.S. Constitution. This transparently partisan publicity stunt is wholly impractical and raises more questions than it answers. But Newsom's pitch for it nicely illustrates the dishonesty, emotionalism, divisive rhetoric, illogic, and magical thinking of politicians who promise that their half-baked gun control schemes will rescue America from fear of deadly violence.
In a video he posted on Twitter and the website of his Campaign for Democracy, Newsom, a Democrat, portrays his amendment as a way of uniting sensible Americans across the political spectrum. But he also lays into "NRA-owned politicians" (illustrated by footage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott), whom he implicitly charges with sacrificing innocent people on the altar of that organization's gun cult.
