California Gov. Gavin Newsom was gifted a handgun last summer from a conservative podcaster in Tennessee, but his own gun control laws might keep him from ever actually obtaining the “fabulous” gift.
Shawn Ryan gave Newsom a Sig Sauer P365-Xmacro pistol in July, fast forward eight months and the California Governor has yet to actually take possession of the weapon, according to CalMatters.
“Brother, this is fabulous,” Newsom said during his interview with Ryan. “The last thing people would expect is that I respect this gift. I’m not anti-gun at all.”
Newsom filed his mandatory statement of economic interest on Monday, where he listed the pistol and wrote in the comments that the gun is “currently held by a licensed firearm dealer, and not in the Governor’s possession.”
The firearm would be Newsom’s first, according to the outlet, but getting it from Tennessee to California is a difficult process — and one gun right activists say will show Newsom firsthand just how tedious it is.
“You would think that maybe he would take a look at that and think ‘Maybe I should do some things differently here, because it’s causing (me) difficulty,’ ” Adam Wilson, the director of legislative affairs at Gun Owners of California, told Cal Matters. “But he doesn’t understand that, because he doesn’t care about what regular gun owners are going through.
In order to actually obtain the gun, Newsom would have to have it transferred from a licensed dealer in Tenessee to an authorized dealer in California, before having to fill out the necessary paperwork, background checks and a 10-day waiting period.
Newsom would also have to pass the Firearm Safety Certificate test with at least a 75% and purchase a certified lock box or other Department of Justice approved safety device, according to The San Francisco Standard.
During his tenure in office, Newsom has championed several gun control measures, including an 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition and a first-ever ban on new Glock handguns.
He also pushed for adding another amendment to the US Constitution that would require age limits on gun purchases, mandatory background checks and waiting periods. The so-called 28th amendment would also ban ownership of assault weapons, however, no other state, has gotten on board with the idea, according to Cal Matters.
