Gavin Newsom signs bill increasing taxes on guns to fund school safety programs

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed a bill adding an 11% excise tax on guns and ammunition in the Golden State to fund school safety programs.

Newsom applauded the lawmakers who got that and other gun bills passed for helping maintain “national leadership” on gun laws.

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“California has led the modern gun rights movement. Back in 1967 … California recognizing its role and responsibility to do more and be better really accelerated those efforts. In the late 80s, 1989 establishing the first assault weapons ban in the nation after the devastation of a shooting that shocked the nation in Stockton, California,” Newsom said at a press conference.

One of the bills signed, A.B. 28, imposes an additional 11% tax on guns and ammunition, on top of the standard 10% or 11%, and sends the revenue to fund programs to “prevent school shootings, bolster firearm investigations, reduce retaliatory violence, and remove guns from domestic abusers.” The governor’s office says the tax will generate $160 million each year.

The bill signing comes days after a federal judge overturned the state’s ban on standard-sized ammunition magazines, a move Newsom denounced.

“While radical judges continue to strip away our ability to keep people safe, California will keep fighting — because gun safety laws work. The data proves they save lives: California’s gun death rate is 43% lower than the rest of the nation. These new laws will make our communities and families safer,” Newsom said in a statement.

The bill signing ceremony also comes as a report from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that gun violence remains high in the Golden State despite stringent gun laws.

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Newsom has made gun policy a focus of his governorship and nationally. Earlier this year, he pitched a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21, require universal background checks, enact a “reasonable” waiting period for gun purchases, and ban rifles “that serve no other purpose than to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time.”

Newsom’s moves on gun laws lend fuel to rumors the Golden State executive may seek a presidential run, but Newsom has repeatedly said that he is not running in 2024 and is supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection effort.