Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called for a US constitutional amendment on gun control that would ban assault weapons and mandate background checks and waiting periods for buying firearms, a long-running proposal with little chance of success in a country deeply divided on the issue.

To pass Newsom’s proposed 28th amendment, legislators in two-thirds of states must vote in favor of a constitutional convention. Republicans currently control more than half of the nation’s legislature, some of which have recently taken action to ease gun restrictions, indicating the likelihood of this happening is slim.

However, Newsom’s announcement is likely to be popular among national Democrats and in California, which has some of the strictest gun control restrictions in the country. It could further the Liberal governor’s efforts to expand his political clout on some of the most crucial and contentious issues facing the country.

The proposal comes after Newsom in March launched a new federal political action committee called the Campaign for Democracy, which he said he founded to boost Democrats and Republican leaders who want to ban books, kidnap migrants and stoke racism ahead of the election. reduce by 2024.

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Newsom’s proposed gun restrictions amendment, which he announced Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, would do the following:

Prohibit the civilian purchase of assault weapons. Raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21. Require universal background checks for gun purchases. Set a “reasonable wait time” for all weapon purchases.

“The 28th Amendment will enshrine commonsense security measures in the Constitution that Democrats, Republicans, Independents and gun owners overwhelmingly support, while the 2nd Amendment remains unchanged and respects the U.S. gun ownership tradition,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday morning.

Newsom said he is working with the Democratic-controlled legislature to make California the first state to call for the constitutional convention.

Under the United States Constitution, an amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds majority vote in either chamber of Congress or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislature. According to the National Archives, none of the 27 constitutional amendments have been proposed by constitutional convention.