Newsom criticizes Republicans and McCarthy after Crescent Bay mass shooting: ‘Only in America’

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Only in America.

That was the subject of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s speech Tuesday at Half Moon Bay, when he brandished a sloppy list of talking points about the mass shootings.

But those topics of conversation were not about Tuesday’s massacre at Crescent Bay, when a man walked around a mushroom farm and neighboring property and shot seven of his colleagues.

These were the themes he came up with for San Jose.

And the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

And for Monterey Park, where just three days ago a man walked into a ballroom dance studio in suburban Los Angeles and fatally shot 11 people celebrating Lunar New Year’s Eve.

“You know, I have no ideological opposition to someone who owns guns responsibly,” Newsom said. “But what the hell is wrong with us if we allow these weapons of war and high-caliber magazines to be on the streets or sidewalks?”

Newsom’s speech listed the killing fields in California and other states as the number of mass shootings across the country this year now exceeds the number of days in January.

The speech was mandatory in his role as governor, and Newsom cited the actions taken by California to stop these terrible tragedies through background checks and a ban on the use of high-capacity assault rifles.

“We have led the country to a series of gun safety measures and the data backs it up,” Newsom said. “When we initiated these progressive reforms from 1993 to 2017, gun deaths dropped by 55%. And you look at our death rates from firearms: 37% lower than the national average. Weapon security works.”

And while the suspected Half Moon Bay shooter appears to have legally obtained the semi-automatic weapons used in the killings, Newsom said one incident overlooks a more important point.

“America alone: ​​No. 1 in gun ownership, No. 1 in gun deaths,” he said. “It’s not even difficult. And you know what, it happened in front of our eyes.”

But every tragic play has a character responsible for the collapse, and in his diagnosis, Newsom pointed to our national gun dependency and helpless Republican leaders who undermine public safety in America.

All of this may sound like someone is considering running for president, and it’s not necessarily wrong. Newsom has been outspoken in his rhetoric, calling for political opposition in the mainstream media, and the discovery of an easily identifiable villain only helps elevate his status as a 2024 or 2028 presidential candidate.

Between boastful turns of speech about California’s leadership, despite noting the hardships faced by low-income farm workers, Newsom delivered a scathing critique of Republicans and the responsibility they bear for the mass shootings.

“That’s where – and forgive me, what the hell do I know – you just have to call some people,” Newsom said. “I’m still waiting for Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Representatives, who claims to represent the people of California, a proud and wonderful county in Kern County. We haven’t heard a single damned word from him. Not since Monterey Park. Not what happened here [in Half Moon Bay]. Not a single word. Not a single expression of prayers, condolences – nothing.

“And that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Where was he in the safety of the weapon? Where was the Republican Party in the safety of arms? They blocked him at every turn. One state cannot do it alone. Shame on them. And shame on those who allow and perpetuate this to be politically rewarded. Shame on them. Shame on these judges who are overturning the laws we made in the state of California. Shame on them. You deserve better. We deserve better. And that’s why I’m here processing, like all of us, absurdity, theater.

“Only in America.”

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