Gavin Newsom’s Latest Laughable Claim

by
posted on July 16, 2025
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
Gavin Newsom
(Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently claimed he is “not anti-gun at all” upon being gifted a SIG Sauer P365 X-Macro by former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan on the veteran’s podcast.

“The last thing people would expect is that I respect this gift. I’m not anti-gun at all,” said Newsom. “I’m for just some gun-safe, common sense. I’m challenged by large-capacity magazine clips in urban centers, weapons of war, sometimes outgunning the police, but otherwise, man, people have the right to bear arms, and I got no ideological opposition to that at all.”

The California governor’s comments stand in direct contrast to the policies he has pursued and the comments he has made over the years, the overwhelming majority of which are, in fact, anti-gun. Further, the things he is “challenged by” are all “anti-gun” despite their deliberately twisted and mislabeled names and phrases.

In 2023, Newsom announced that he wanted to add a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, among other things, implement “universal” background checks, raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, ban “assault weapons” and more.

Newsom also went after gun shows and gun owners’ data in 2021 and has signed countless anti-gun laws throughout his tenure as governor, but that’s not all. As mayor of San Francisco, he supported Proposition H in 2005, which would have mandated the confiscation of all privately owned handguns within the city’s limits, as well as rendered their purchase, acquisition or transfer as unlawful. This was also supported by then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris (D).

Newsom’s attempt to portray himself as pro-gun follows in the footsteps of other politicians who attempted to do the same despite years of evidence pointing to the contrary. Just last year, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz tried this tactic while running for the presidency and vice presidency. Harris unconvincingly spoke about her “Glock” while Walz attempted to cast himself as a hunter even as he had trouble loading his shotgun.

Harris even promised that she was “in favor of the Second Amendment” after having spent years trying to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court from recognizing it. Thankfully, voters saw through their ruse and once again elected a president who is defending the right to keep and bear arms.

Latest

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith

The Greatest Second Amendment Victory in a Century

On July 4, 2025, Americans celebrated not only our nation’s independence, but also the restoration of our constitutional Second Amendment rights becoming unconstrained by burdensome and arbitrary fees.

Opening Salvo | More Evidence That Gun-Control Groups are Freaking Out

With the Trump administration’s law-and-order push showing America’s crime problem is clearly not the fault of lawfully armed citizens, gun-control groups are freaking out.

John Rich has a Song for Armed Citizens

John Rich's latest song is "The Righteous Hunter." It is a moving tune about standing up to stop those with evil intentions. It is a song for lawfully armed citizens.

This Department of Education Grant Could Change Things

The University of Wyoming’s Firearms Research Center has been awarded a nearly $1 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education to develop a nationwide program on the origins, meaning and implications of the Second Amendment.

From the Editor | Charlie Kirk Lived for Freedom

“Give me liberty, or give me death,” are the immortal words of Patrick Henry spoken on March 23, 1775, to the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, Va. His impassioned words were a call to arms against British tyranny.  

Ninth Circuit to Revisit Background Checks on Ammo Case

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted rehearing en banc in Rhode v. Bonta—a case backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association. 

Interests



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.