Gavin Newsom Talks Guns and Carry Permits With Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan sits down with California Governor Gavin Newsom for a sit-down that opens with Newsom getting handed a California-compliant Sig Sauer P365 Macro as a gift, and the conversation goes from there into guns, crime data and why the state makes concealed carry so hard to get.

Key points

• The gift: Ryan presents Newsom with a California-compliant Sig Sauer P365 Macro, and Newsom says he is not anti-gun and respects the Second Amendment.
• His red lines: Newsom says he backs background checks, age limits and restrictions on large-capacity magazines, pointing to an AK-47 killing of a San Francisco police officer in Bayview-Hunters Point as a moment that shaped his view on police being outgunned.
• The crime-data argument: Newsom claims states with stronger gun laws have lower gun death rates, and says eight of the ten highest per-capita murder rates in the country are in red states.
• Ryan pushes back: Ryan raises the concern that mental-health flags aimed at dangerous people could eventually sweep in veterans dealing with PTSD or depression, risking their gun rights.
• Concealed carry in California: Newsom defends the state's tough permit process as reflecting what he calls California's cultural mindset, and says his own gun safety measures passed directly by voter ballot.

Quick take

This is a rare moment where a sitting Democratic governor and an audience of gun owners actually hear each other out instead of talking past one another. Newsom states his position plainly, Ryan challenges him just as plainly, and nobody walks away agreeing on concealed carry, but the exchange itself is worth watching.

Watch the full video: Shawn Ryan Show