CNN Newsroom: State Assemblymember Reggie Jones- Sawyer (D-CA) Discusses CA Governor's Proposal For Constitutional Amendment For Gun Control

Interview

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Good to see you. Thank you for this opportunity.

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I represent south Los Angeles. I used to be a mortician back in the day during the '90s. I know how difficult and how challenging it is for gun deaths, especially in disadvantaged communities.

We've got to do something. The mass shootings that have been going on in this country have been horrific.

The fact that California has been very successful at keeping the numbers down because of the gun laws that we have is one of the reasons why we wanted to make sure that the rest of the country can share in the opportunity to reduce that number.

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One of the things that we looked at is, what are the gun laws that most Americans believe in?

As you look at the data and the polling, when you look at background checks, when you look at the fact that people would prefer that people have a higher age for when you have access to weapons, waiting periods, all that polled very high among American people, even in red stats states.

And that shows us that the people want these sensible gun regulations. We've got to allow them the opportunity to tell their elected officials, no matter what, whether red state or blue state, that this needs to happen.

We're hoping that the groundswell of support that comes from the people themselves will begin to move the needle for states to go ahead and give us an opportunity to vote on it in the legislature, in the U.S. legislature.

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This was really not about changing the Second Amendment. This was specifically about enacting good legislation that will help reduce the amount of gun violence, especially mass shootings going on in America.

If you look at other countries, look at other places, those numbers are very low. If you look at California, our numbers are very low. It's based on the fact that we have sensible, again, sensible gun regulation.

If you look at the Second Amendment, it's about a regulated militia being able to be armed. Regulated, meaning that we're striving real hard to ensure that guns and especially weapons of mass destruction like assault weapons aren't given to everyone in the community.

Those are for war, not for your regular home, on the street or even for hunting.

We believe that if you talk to the American people and talk to them directly about what they believe is the best way to move forward with sensible gun regulation, it will happen.

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In south L.A., they've always been in favor of those gun regulations. I'm the chair of public safety. We've enacted some of the best gun regulation laws in America.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't still be the assemblyman of the 57th assembly district running for District 10 if I knew that my constituents did not want this. My constituents are begging for this. They've been wanting this for quite a while.

I'm tired of going to too many funerals. I'm tired of going to too many gun deaths. I'm just tired of it. It is now time for us to act and enact laws that will make us much more safe.

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Thank you. And thank you for this opportunity.

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