The incident that spawned Newsom’s outburst occurred on a crowded beach on Memorial Day in Hollywood, Florida. Certainly not the setting one would expect to see suspected gang violence, but this is 2023.
Police are searching for three suspects who they believe opened fire on the packed beach. The violent criminals wounded nine victims, including a one-year-old, and sent holiday revelers scrambling for safety.
A pair of suspects involved in the confrontation that led to the shooting, 18-year-olds Morgan Deslouches and Keshawn Stewart, were taken into custody on firearms charges. Among the weapons recovered by law enforcement were at least two that had been reported stolen — one in the Miami area and the other in Texas.
Newsom immediately chose to ignore the rampant violent crime in his own state and lash out at Florida over a recent change allowing more freedoms for law-abiding citizens.
His specific target was Florida governor and recently announced presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R).
Newsom tweeted criticism of the permitless carry bill DeSantis signed into law in April. He asserted the statue removed requirements for background checks, mandatory instruction, and other regulations.
The governor added, “Until our leaders have the courage to stop bowing down to the NRA and enact common sense gun safety this kind of senseless violence will continue.”
Only, the California governor missed several key points. The primary one being that the new law does not even go into effect until July 1.
Yes, the new regulations have yet to be implemented and thus have zero to do with the Memorial Day shooting incident. Further, federal background checks for weapons purchases are in no way nullified for Florida residents.
Even more telling, at least two of the weapons allegedly involved in the incident were stolen. Any reasonable person knows there is a high likelihood that none of them were found in the possession of the person who lawfully purchased them and went through all of the legal hoops.
DeSantis’ office asked a legitimate question after Newsom’s tweet. “How does a law that doesn’t take effect until July 1 change this outcome?”
CBS News reported that the violent incident started with “an altercation between two groups.” The Associated Press said there was a fight at the beach, and Breitbart News noted that Hollywood Police Chief Chris O’Brien laid the blame on a “group of criminals.”
Does it sound like the new Florida law, even if it were already in effect, would have had any deterrent value for this incident?
Perhaps a closer look at California would shed light on the fallacy of Newsom’s critique.
The Golden State is well known as having the most stringent gun control laws in the nation. Unfortunately for its residents, it also had the highest number of “active shooter incidents” in 2021. If there is a direct connection between sweeping firearms restrictions and violent crime, someone forgot to tell California’s criminal element.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), called Newsom’s outburst “a level of foolishness I didn’t think was possible.”
Gottlieb tried to give Newsom the benefit of a doubt, noting that he may have simply overlooked “three weekend shootings in Oakland, a triple-shooting in Garden Grove, or shooting incidents in Fresno that left one man dead and another man wounded.”
Of course, these and so many other cases do not fit the anti-gun narrative, so they were ignored.
