California sheriff blasts Newsom's 'pro-criminal agenda' after court blocks latest gun control law

A California sheriff blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week after a court blocked the governor’s latest gun control push that would have banned concealed carry in many public places.

"It was definitely a relief because having that go into effect and the potential of what was going to possibly happen to law-abiding residents was really unacceptable," Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News Digital this week.

Bianco spoke after the U.S. Court of Appeals from the 9th Circuit blocked a California law signed by Newsom that would ban concealed carry in public places like parks, churches and playgrounds from going into effect.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Newsom’s office called it a "dangerous" decision that will risk the lives of Californians, but Bianco said the legislation is part of an "anti-gun ownership" agenda that is "extremely dishonest."

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Newsom and Sheriff Chad Bianco (Getty Images)

"The fact about everything we're doing taking away the gun rights and ownership and the (carrying a concealed weapon) aspect of the whole thing — where you can carry and where you can't — it flies in the face of what they do with criminals," Bianco said. 

"They have a very pro-criminal stance in California, and they have for years, all of the laws. Newsom's goal is to close as many prisons as he can, to not prosecute and to not sentence anyone to state prison. They blame law enforcement. They blame society. So, there's never a personal responsibility on someone's criminal behavior. It's always someone else's fault. And there is this agenda that is extremely pro-criminal in Sacramento.

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"They took the exact opposite stance for law-abiding residents here who have gone through background checks, who have proven over their lifetime that they're good, law-abiding residents, to say that somehow or imply somehow that they're a danger to the public when they have a gun out in public. 

"It's very dishonest, and I think he needs to drop his gun agenda, his anti-2A agenda. And he needs to concentrate on the skyrocketing crime in California and the quality of life issues for the residents of California that are being destroyed by the policies that he is promoting."

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (Fox News)

Fox News Digital asked Bianco what his constituents tell him about Newsom’s goal of restricting where law-abiding citizens can exercise their Second Amendment rights.

"People that would relate it to the governor are basically saying he should resign," Bianco said. "He is absolutely against residents. He does everything about destroying the quality of life in California by creating policies that increase crime that cause us to be in more danger when we are out in public. And yet he refuses to allow residents to protect themselves or to have the tools to protect themselves. So, really, they want him gone. They want him to resign."

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Bianco explained that while many point fingers at the liberal legislature, the governor "has quite a bit of power" in Sacramento behind the scenes and could immediately implement significant public safety changes with respect to crime if he wanted to.

"He's the governor of the state. He can do anything he wants. He can exert his political influence over the legislature to fix crime in California," Bianco said. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom at Moffett Federal Airfield of NASA Ames Research Center before President Biden's arrival in Mountain View, Calif., June 19, 2023. (Getty Images)

Bianco said he is deeply concerned about the crime trajectory in California in 2024 if things don't change.

"We know from history the past several years that all the horrible public safety bills they've tried to pass or that they tried to get through that didn't make it. We know they'll bring them back the next year with a little twist. And they'll use the political off-season to gain allies and make promises to the people that wouldn't vote for it before," Bianco said. 

"So, we know those horrible bills are coming back. So, we want to fight them. We have to be on guard.

"California, in my opinion, is the greatest state in the country, and we are, unfortunately, being ruined by a political agenda. And the reality of our country now is that the rest of the country knows that California is broken, and they know that he's responsible for it," Bianco added.

"The rest of the country does not want to be California, and we've become a laughingstock."

Newsom's office directed Fox News Digital to a recent study that it says shows California gun safety laws have been "effective."