Gavin Newsom hits Ron DeSantis on gun legal guidelines in new fundraising pitch

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is choosing a struggle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over gun legal guidelines to boost cash for his new political motion committee.

Mr. Newsom, in a fundraising pitch Friday, took goal at Mr. DeSantis for signing permitless carry laws, warning states “with open carry laws have higher gun violence rates.”

“Florida has significantly higher firearm death rates, violent crime rates and property crime rates than California,” Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, mentioned within the electronic mail blast. “Strong gun laws work.” 

“Don’t believe the GOP nonsense,” he mentioned. “What Ron DeSantis is doing is weak, pathetic pandering.”

On Monday, Mr. DeSantis signed a invoice permitting Floridians to hold hid weapons with out a allow, burnishing his pro-Second Amendment credentials forward of a probable bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The signing got here per week after six individuals have been shot and killed at The Covenant School in Nashville.

Mr. DeSantis’ workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Mr. Newsom final week launched the Campaign for Democracy PAC, vowing to tackle “authoritarian leaders” within the Republican Party who “are so hellbent on gaining power and keeping it by any means necessary that they are directly attacking our freedoms in state after state.”

Mr. Newsom mentioned he plans to take the struggle on the street to focus on how Republicans have, amongst different issues, banned books, “kidnap migrants, target trans kids, stoke racism, condone anti-semitism,” and “force victims of rape and incest to carry their attacker’s baby.”

“They fan the flames of culture wars to distract from the fact that blue states have lower murder ats, better healthcare outcomes, and higher GDPs,” he mentioned in a launch video that flashed clips of former President Donald Trump, Mr. DeSantis and Govs. Gregg Abbott of Texas and Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas.