California Gov. Gavin Newsom might be trying to build a nascent presidential campaign by lobbing cross-country bombs at his fellow governor in Florida over the Sunshine Stateās stance on Second Amendment rights.
But the father of a girl who died in a notorious school shooting had a news flash for Newsom this week:
Criminals donāt really respect the law.
Ryan Pettyās daughter, 14-year-old Alaina Petty, was one of 17 students and staffers who were killed in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
As the father of a shooting victim, as well as a member of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which was established with a mandate to investigate the mass killing and recommend improvements that could prevent such crimes in the future, itās safe to say Petty has a personal grasp on the issue of gun safety that eludes the well-coiffed chief executive of the once-Golden State of California.
And heās got no time for Newsomās opportunistic criticisms of a bill moving through the Florida legislature to allow state residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, a staunch proponent of Second Amendment rights, has said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
On Monday, the California governor made time to publish a Twitter post blasting legislation under consideration in the Florida state capital of Tallahassee ā more than 2,500 miles away from his own seat of government in Sacramento.
āFact: Permitless carry does not make you safer,ā Newsom wrote with the condescending arrogance Americans have come to expect from California liberals. āStates that allow Concealed Carry have higher homicide rates.ā
Petty blasted back with a āFactā of his own. Itās the liberal fetish of āgun-free zonesā that donāt make people safe. In 2018, The Washinton Times reported on a study that found that almost 98 percent of mass shootings occur in āgun-free zonesā ā a number thatās both astounding and almost to be expected, given that āgun-free zonesā are where potential victims are least able to fight back, and killers know it.
āHey, Gavin, my daughter Alaina was killed at Parkland and I support permit-less carry in Florida,ā Petty wrote. āIf my daughter were alive sheād be carrying, because she would be defenseless in a gun free zone.ā
And he added some advice for the Ken doll of CaliforniaPolitics: āSit this one out.ā
In an interview published by Fox NewsĀ on Wednesday, Petty pointed out that the progressive Politics of California ā and its draconian gun-control laws ā havenāt prevented mass shootings there either.
āCalifornia has enacted what you could only call āthe dreamā for gun-control advocates, and it is not proving to make Californians any safer,ā Petty told Fox.āThe reason is simple: Criminals donāt obey gun laws.ā Itās a statement thatās self-evident, though the logic continues to elude liberals.
āThe only thing Gavin Newsom and the California legislature have accomplished is curtailing the rights of law-abiding Californians, and in doing so they have made no one safer,ā Petty said.
It appears they havenāt in California. For all of Newsomās preening and preaching, his own state isnāt exactly an Eden of gun- and crime-free harmony.
January alone saw three mass shootings in California, as The Associated Press reported.
But Newsom feels the obligation to weigh in on whatās happing on the other side of the continental United States.
Obviously, the governor has presidential ambitions and has said he would run if President Joe Biden did not seek another term.
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The doddering Biden might be making noises about running again, but the octogenarianās weakness is evident ā physical and mental ā and in the words of the great sage Rocky Balboa: āTime takes everybody out. Timeās undefeated.ā
So Newsom is clearly reminding Democrats nationally that heās On Their Side when it comes to Guns.
And heās doing it by implicitly attacking Ron Desantis, a Republican who just won overwhelming support from his voters in the November election and, besides former President Donald Trump, is the most widely talked about potential GOP candidate in 2024.
(It isnāt Newsomās first attack on DeSantis and Florida either, but others havenāt gone much better.)
The Florida bill wouldnāt make the state an outlier. According to a Washington Times report Tuesday, citing the National Rifle Association, the bill would make the state the 26th in the nation to enact permitless Concealed Carry ā for those who know racist, white supremacist math, that would make a majority of the 50 states.
Newsomās transparent pretension might play well politically on the left, and get him predictably positive attention from the ever-attentive mainstream media, but itās not going to go down well with Americans who cherish the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.
And when those Americans include a man who lost his own daughter in a school shooting massacre, maybe Newsom might want to take his advice: And sit this one out.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
