News Clips

Critics note there are no guarantees that the convention would be limited to gun control if triggered. The nonpartisan democracy advocacy group Common Cause earlier this week blasted the push, noting a convention lacks legal guardrails and historical norms. "By calling a constitutional convention, Governor Newsom would invite wealthy special interests to open the hood of the U.S. Constitution and tinker with our rights and liberties—without a single rule," the group said in a news release. "There are few risks to the freedoms we cherish greater than calling for a constitutional convention. No matter what issue you care about—civil rights, abortion, housing, the environment, or gun safety — an Article V Convention carries the potential to take us back rather than move us forward."

“Doing a convention puts every civil right we have in this country at risk,” said Viki Harrison, Director of Constitutional Conventions and Protecting Dissent Programs for left-of-center watchdog group Common Cause in an interview with The Center Square. “The entire Constitution could be rewritten.” “The amendment process is a lot more in the open,” Harrison said. “You're going through the state legislatures where people can testify. You are going through Congress where people can interact with their legislators and their senators.” 

Viki Harrison, director of constitutional convention programs at Common Cause, said her organization supports efforts to curb gun violence, but she said calling a convention “could put all of our civil rights up for grabs.” “A constitutional convention is not the way to go and could actually make reducing gun violence worse at the end of the day because gun interests could re-write the constitution,” she told The Washington Times. “With no rules in place, and many convention proponents advocating for the same number of delegates per state, gun control would not be the topic taken up at a convention.”

Rewriting the constitution to favor the rich won’t just take away civil liberties but could literally dissolve the United States itself. Everything from the second Amendment to civil rights could be a thing of the past if we don’t stop the Article 5 convention to end the US Constitution. Thom discusses the threat with Viki Harrison Common Cause Director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs.

"We also know hearing what the opposition is talking about that they are going to be hitting every state that they can think of," Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider. Harrison and others involved in trying to thwart the movement have said that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has fundamentally changed how Americans respond to this issue. While the high court has no role in a convention, Harrison said people are now aware that major changes to fundamental rights can occur. "We're talking about rights about Americans have taken for granted," Harrison said. "I think that is what has woken the public up and why I am talking to way more about this this year than last year ."

On Sunday, Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn told MSNBC that in the hands of Republicans, a second constitutional convention could "put all of our constitutional rights up for grabs."