New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared gun violence and drug abuse a public health emergency after a string of recent deadly shootings, some involving children.
The emergency order includes the suspension of open and concealed carry laws in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, temporarily banning the carrying of guns on public property with certain exceptions, according to a statement from Lujan Grisham on Friday.
Lujan Grisham cited the shooting deaths of three children from July through September, as well as a pair of mass shootings in the state.
“The time for standard measures has passed,” said Lujan Grisham, a Democrat. “And when New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game – when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn – something is very wrong.”
Under the plan, citizens with carry permits will still be allowed to possess their weapons on private property such as gun ranges and gun stores if the firearm is transported in a locked box or a trigger lock or other mechanism is used to render the gun incapable of being fired, according to the statement.
The order was issued after consultation with public safety officials, including Bernalillo District Attorney Sam Bregman, Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, and former State Police Chief Pete Kassetas.
The order also prohibits firearms on state property, including state buildings and schools, as well as parks and other places where children gather.
Under the order, licensed firearm dealers will be inspected monthly by New Mexico’s Regulation and Licensing Division to ensure compliance with sales and storage laws. Additionally, state health and environmental officials will begin wastewater testing for illegal substances such as fentanyl at schools.
The order is immediately effective, according to the statement.
In May, two mass shootings in New Mexico six people dead and 11 wounded. The state has one of the highest rates of gun violence and suicide in the nation.
Response from the right was so fierce you'd think that Governor Grisham had neglected to salute the Emperor Donald Trump. A sampling:
Tim Pool, right-wing Twitter enthusiast: "Police should arrest her immediately.
"Police should arrest her immediately https://t.co/NyvvpRHKST
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 9, 2023
No, that's not how these things work. Immediately before her remarks captured on the Twitter video, the Governor stated that she expects a legal challenge, and almost welcomed it. This is not a violation of a state criminal statute or a local ordinance. It is not in the jurisdiction of the police.
Dan Bongino: "You have a duty to ignore this tyranny. She should be immediately impeached and investigated."You have a duty to ignore this tyranny. She should be immediately impeached and investigated.
We'll impeach and thereafter investigate- to stop tyranny.... perfectly good sense.
Tim Pool, right-wing Twitter enthusiast: "Police should arrest her immediately."
No, that's not how these things work. Immediately before her remarks captured on the Twitter video, the Governor stated that she expects a legal challenge, and almost welcomed it. This is not a violation of a state criminal statute or a local ordinance. It is not in the jurisdiction of the police.
Phil Holloway, Town Hall columnist: "NM governor suspends open and concealed carry. Michelle Grisham is a tyrant.... The Covid 'emergency was the opening act."
Well over one million American lives have been taken in the "opening act" of Covid-19. It was not a hoax. It is not a hoax.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas: "Our Constitution doesn’t say 'the privilege to keep and bear arms'” it says 'the right.' If the government can take away one of your most basic rights, it can take away any of them. As long as I’m Governor, Arkansas will not tread on the Second Amendment - or any other."
Neither has Grisham. The alleged constitutional right cited by Sanders is "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." We no longer have a well-regulated militia. The closest we have to a militia is the National Guard, which is not necessary to the security of a free state. And Governor Grisham's order does not infringe on the right to possess or own a firearm, but only to carry it in public. And the Founders were referring to muskets. Aside from that, Governor Sanders has it right.
Joe Scarborough and many others have told us the Republican Party traditionally supported balanced budgets and limited government but now does not. Those were mostly fiction, a matter more of rhetoric than of actual philosophy. Add to those the GOP outrage over urban crime. We now have a Democratic governor who, enraged about street crime in her state's largest city, has taken decisive and constitutional action, prompting conservative hand wringing. If only there were video of young black men rioting in Albuquerque, perhaps Republicans would do the right thing and support gun safety and crime prevention.
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