Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s track record of getting out in front on issues has helped him emerge as a leading proponent of two of November’s hot-button ballot measures, propositions to legalize recreational marijuana and add new gun controls.

His advocacy of those measures, which on Tuesday included a meeting with Southern California News Group editorial and newsroom writers, is also raising the Democrat’s profile as he gears up a 2018 bid for governor.

Proposition 63, which includes seven gun control provisions, helped spur the Legislature to pass measures of its own this summer. But that hasn’t slowed Newsom.

“They failed to address many of these (key) issues,” he said.

One Prop. 63 component Newsom emphasized Tuesday would establish a new system for confiscating firearms from convicted felons. A 2014 study found that 17,500 Californians who, as felons, were banned from having guns still owned 35,000 licensed firearms.

While Attorney General Kamala Harris has been given money by the Legislature to go door-to-door and round up those weapons, that approach gathered just 11,500 in the first year, Newsom said. Prop. 63 would require felons to surrender weapons, including those they are on record as owning, before sentencing.

Another provision would tighten loopholes in a new law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition.

“The majority of guns in inner-city violence are not licensed, but these people are legally buying ammunition,“ Newsom said.

One of the most controversial components of Prop. 63, a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, has already been signed into law.

Critics say Prop. 63 unnecessarily burdens gun and ammunition buyers and sellers, and affects law-abiding gun owners rather than criminals.

Newsom acknowledged Prop. 63 wouldn’t end gun violence, but he pointed to studies showing that California has experienced a steady drop in gun violence over the past two decades as state gun laws have tightened.

Newsom gained national headlines in 2004 when, as mayor of San Francisco, he directed the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The licenses were eventually annulled, but it set the stage for the 2008 state Supreme Court ruling legalizing such unions.

He also has been an early supporter of recreational cannabis, forming the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy in 2013 to study the best path toward legalization.

While there were 19 initiatives to legalize marijuana proposed for the Nov. 8 election, Newsom helped gain support for the only one that incorporated most of his commission’s recommendations – and the only one that made the ballot.

Newsom said he’s not campaigning for Proposition 64 because he likes marijuana. He said he’s seen lives stalled by the drug and he hopes his kids never use it. He even joked that his wife might not back him for governor because he’s supporting the measure.

But Newsom said he believes a significant number of Californians are in the same boat as him: “They’re not pro-marijuana, but they’re vehemently anti-prohibition.”

Under the current system, he said, young people have easy access to marijuana, law enforcement is dedicating resources to catch nonviolent drug offenders and California’s black market for pot is flourishing.

Newsom isn’t promising those problems will dissolve overnight if voters approve Prop. 64, which would allow adults to possess an ounce of marijuana. But he believes the law will be a step in the right direction, pointing at the measure’s protections for children, tax revenue for public safety and flexibility for the Legislature to make changes down the road.

Both propositions, Newsom argued, give voters a chance to steer the national debate on these significant public policy issues.

“California is a game-changer,” he said.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com or bstaggs@ocregister.com