Newsom Melts Down After Court Smacks Down Ammo Law

California Governor Gavin Newsom is back to his usual tricks—claiming to support the Second Amendment one week, and throwing a tantrum the next.

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Last Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s ammunition background check law as unconstitutional, dealing a major blow to the state’s 2016 voter-approved gun control initiative.

The case, Rhode v. Bonta, has been winding through the courts since 2018. The court ruled 2-1 that California’s background check system for ammunition purchases imposes unconstitutional burdens on law-abiding citizens. Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, writing for the majority, noted that the law “meaningfully constrains California residents’ right to keep and bear arms.”

Cue the outrage from Newsom.

Calling the decision a “slap in the face,” Newsom fumed that it disrespected California voters and threatened public safety. “Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition and their voices should matter,” he said, ignoring the part where constitutional rights are not subject to a popularity contest.

This sudden return to anti-gun rhetoric is quite the reversal from last week, when Newsom sat on Shawn Ryan’s podcast, happily accepting a SIG Sauer pistol and claiming he supports the Second Amendment. That lasted all of… five days.

Alan Gottlieb, Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), wasn’t buying it.

“Newsom’s so-called newly found support for the Second Amendment vanished overnight,” said Gottlieb. “He is a lying politician who can’t be trusted. We warned at the time that his pro-gun pronouncement needed affirmation, and he has failed to deliver, just as we expected.”

Gottlieb also reminded Newsom—and anyone eyeing a 2028 presidential run—that the Bill of Rights doesn’t come with a ballot box override.

“We’ve got some bad news for Gavin Newsom,” he said. “Constitutional rights are not up to a public vote, which the 9th Circuit panel recognizes, even if he doesn’t. Neither are rights subject to essentially getting permission from the state, via a background check, in order for citizens to exercise them.”

Judge Ikuta’s opinion called out the law’s fees, delays, and the broad scope of transactions it covered. The court ultimately upheld a lower court’s permanent injunction, scrapping the law as a whole.

For now, California gun owners can breathe a little easier. But if Newsom’s whiplash-inducing pivot on gun rights tells us anything, the fight is far from over—and he’s not done trying to legislate the Second Amendment into the ground.

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