California Governor Gavin Newsom seemed to be quite happy to receive a firearm from podcast host Shawn Ryan, but his own gun laws make matters more complicated.
That is the take of State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, who claims that once the cameras were off, Newsom had to reject the gifted SIG Sauer P365 X-Macro out of fear he would be breaking one of his own “convoluted and draconian gun laws.”
The host of The Shawn Ryan Show noted that the firearm was “California compliant” in a video clip posted to X:
Shawn Ryan gifts Gavin Newsom a California compliant SIG Sauer P365 X-Macro. @GavinNewsom@sigsauerinc pic.twitter.com/Cv5DJ1rsFt
— Shawn Ryan Show (@ShawnRyanShow) July 11, 2025
“You ready for this?” Ryan asked, handing over a gun case.
“Is this an actual- I gotta report this gift, man,” Newsom laughed.
“It is a California-compliant SIG Sauer P365 X-Macro,” the host explained of the gift.
“This is too cool, the fact that you would give me this,” the governor chuckled. “You just want TSA to take this from me, and my a** is arrested at the airport. I’m onto you, man.”
“I got a buddy at SIG, and he was like, you gotta get a SIG in his hand. His name’s Jason,” Ryan said.
“Brother, this is fabulous. I’m not anti-gun at all,” Newsom said. “I’m for just some gun safety common sense. I’m challenged by large capacity magazine clips in urban centers, weapons of war sometimes outgunning the police, but otherwise, man, people have a right to bear arms and I got no ideological opposition to that at all.”
Not long after, DeMaio called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into whether Newsom may have violated his own gun laws.
Did Governor Gavin Newsom break his OWN gun laws? We are asking the attorney general to look into it. https://t.co/OFvCAxdvVM
— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) July 18, 2025
“California State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio is offering to help Governor Gavin Newsom to avoid criminal prosecution by formally asking U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to provide legal advice to the governor on how to fully comply with the convoluted and draconian gun laws that he has signed into effect,” read the assemblyman’s statement.
“It would be an absolute shame if Governor Gavin Newsom inadvertently violated one of his anti-gun laws – but the extraordinary hassle he now faces proves not only that he is a hypocrite but that the draconian gun laws he imposed on regular Californians should be scrapped,” he said.
More from the statement:
The controversy ove rthe gun gift started when Newsom appeared on The Shawn Ruan Show podcast, and the host gifted the Governo a SIG Sauer P365 X-Macro. On the show, Newsom appeared to accept the firearm and even claimed he was “not anti-gun.”
But DeMaio’s office has now learned that off-camera, Newsom rejected the gift because of the compliance rules and left the firearm behind in Tennessee. Newsom’s team has since admitted that the California anti-gun laws are so complicated that they have had to hire legal counsel to conduct a legal review.
DeMaio questions whether the Governor will ever actually follow through in legally accepting it. DeMaio thinks that Governor Gain Newsom should get the very best legal advice, which is why DeMaio has sent a letter for Bondi and Bonta urging them to help Gavin Newsom comply with the complicated anti-gun laws he has imposed on California.
“First he’ll need a background check, a Firearm Safety Certificate, a DROS submission, a 10-day waiting period, a safe storage affidavit, and don’t forget the special taxes,” DeMaio quipped. “And that’s before figuring out how to actually get the gun into California without committing a felony under his own rules,” DeMaio added.
“I’m asking for the full weight of the DOJ to guide the Governor through the painful, bureaucratic maze he built, because let’s be honest, he need the help to navigate the mess he created.” DeMaio said.
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.
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