SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Texas passed a law known as SB8 that allows people who aren’t connected to an abortion to sue anyone who performs or facilitates an abortion after six weeks, and they can receive up to $10,000 in damages.
"If they’re going to use this framework to put women's lives at risk, we're going to use it to save people's lives here in the state of California," Newsom said in July when he signed an idea of his into law.
Newsom mirrored the law here in California, but instead of abortions, he did it for guns. Private citizens can sue anyone who violates the state’s laws when it comes to the manufacturing, distribution or sale of illegal weapons in California.
"There are 40 million people who can collect $10,000,” said Newsom.
Former Senator Bob Hertzberg volunteered to put the idea into a bill form.
“If someone has a ghost gun or assault weapon, and your neighbor sees it, and they can see that you transported it that you have possession of it, all of a sudden, they can get $10,000, plus attorneys fees…," Hertzberg said back in April.
For the most part, the law took effect Sunday.
Gun rights organization sued, and the case is still going through the legal process, but a U.S. District judge in San Diego blocked one part of the law, which would require the gun industry to pay for legal fees if someone sued them, even if they won.
"What they've determined is there's a good likelihood that the plaintiff is going to win, and that is an aspect of it that will cause harm right away, so that's the only reason why it was enjoined,” said Craig Deluz, a gun rights advocate.
Deluz, a publisher of a Second Amendment news site, said the average citizen is not going to know if a gun is illegal.
“Most people do not know what any illegal gun looks like? How are you going to determine if someone has broken California's gun laws?” he said.
He said if lawsuits start coming in, it will be through larger organizations.
“These are organizations with deep, deep pockets, and their whole goal, quite frankly, is going to be to sue individuals, to sue firearms retailers and basically, in order to put them out of business,” said Deluz.
When the news came out that the San Diego judge blocked that portion of the law saying it was unconstitutional, Newsom applauded it. He said the judge confirmed that the Texas law was also unconstitutional, because he quite literally copied their law.
The judge pointed out that one of the big differences in these laws is that the right to bear arms is in the United States constitution while the right to an abortion is not.
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