New California Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Been 'Vocally Anti-Gun Every Chance He Gets'

California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, isn't exactly known as a staunch defender of the rights of Golden State voters to legally keep and bear arms.

But once fellow Democrat Gavin Newsom—who won the governor's race last night against Republican John Cox—takes office, defenders of the Second Amendment may come to miss the state's outgoing chief executive.

Brown signed many anti-gun bills into law. But he vetoed many as well. A list prepared by the Sacramento-based Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) shows that, since taking office in 2011 for his second stint as governor, Brown vetoed no fewer than 26 anti-gun proposals. 

"I'm going to miss Jerry Brown because it's going to be much, much worse going forward," says Brandon Combs, president of the FPC.

Brown vetoed a 2013 bill, SB 374, that would have dramatically expanded the definition of "assault weapon." He vetoed, twice, legislation to restrict gun shows at San Francisco's Cow Palace exhibition hall. Brown vetoed a bill, AB 2333, that would have cracked down on children's BB guns. He vetoed a bill, AB 180, that would have carved out an exception to state preemption law and allowed the city of Oakland to enact stricter anti-gun measures. And he signed AB 2151, backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which encourages youth to hunt big game.