ANALYSIS – In what appears to be a calculated political stunt, New Mexico's Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an emergency order Friday suspending the right to carry firearms in public in and around Albuquerque, the state's largest city.
The governor said that her emergency order, which many consider unconstitutional, would only be active for 30 days as an emergency ‘public health measure.' Violating the order would be considered a civil, not criminal infraction, and could carry a fine of up to $5,000.
It will be enforced in most public places, from city sidewalks to parks.
“No person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm … either openly or concealed,” the governor's order states.
According to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), at least 48,000 citizens of New Mexico have valid concealed carry permits issued by the state, out of a population of 2.1 million. It is unclear how many permit holders reside in or around Albuquerque.
But the city holds almost a quarter of the state's total population, with more in surrounding areas.
This ban would invalidate the lawful right of tens of thousands of New Mexico citizens to carry a firearm.
This is only the latest example of how little Democrats really care about the Constitution, and how they have weaponized ‘health care emergencies' to encompass virtually anything they want to violate our rights.
The Governor said she had to act following recent deadly shootings, including the tragic death of an 11-year-old boy outside a baseball game, and a 5-year-old girl killed by gunfire while sleeping in a motorhome.
But violating the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens who have lawful New Mexico gun-carrying permits won't solve the crime problem. It will only make it worse.
“A child is murdered, the perpetrator is still on the loose, and what does the Governor do? She … targets law-abiding citizens with an unconstitutional gun order,” said the top-ranked Republican in the state, state senator Greg Baca.
This outrageous measure has also drawn an immediate legal backlash. Newsmax reported:
The National Association for Gun Rights and Foster Haines, a member who lives in Albuquerque, filed documents in U.S. District Court in New Mexico suing Lujan Grisham and seeking an immediate block to the implementation of her order.
The challenge was expected, but even so, the governor's action Friday was an attempt to “move the debate,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles…
The professor's comment points to the real purpose of this stunt: ‘to move the debate.”
“I don't think it will be a political loss for (Lujan Grisham) to be overturned,” Levinson said. “She can say she did everything she could but was stopped by the courts.”
Meanwhile, though police are expected to enforce the order, they don't seem willing to follow an unconstitutional order.
Newsmax continued: “Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who once served as a Democratic party leader and was appointed by Lujan Grisham, on Saturday joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Harold Medina saying they wouldn't enforce the order.”
Bregman, the top prosecutor in the Albuquerque area, was further quoted as saying: “As an officer of the court, I cannot and will not enforce something that is clearly unconstitutional.”
He added: “This office will continue to focus on criminals of any age that use guns in the commission of a crime.”
But they aren't the only ones. The Guardian reported the Bernalillo County sheriff, John Allen, also expressed serious apprehensions about the ban. Allen said:
While I understand and appreciate the urgency, the temporary ban challenges the foundation of our constitution, which I swore an oath to uphold. I am wary of placing my deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts, as well as the potential risks posed by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self-defense.
And to make matters worse for the governor, state representatives Stefani Lord and John Block are calling for her impeachment.
In a statement, Lord said: “This is an abhorrent attempt at imposing a radical, progressive agenda on an unwilling populace. Rather than addressing crime at its core, Governor Grisham is restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Lujan-Grisham is a power hungry Liberal who doesn’t have the ability to see the real problem and therefore to identify solutions. Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and Santa Fe are roiling cesspools of Liberal garbage that have included lots of ideas from the Liberal schemes from various Liberal Communists around the country. Their efforts and influence have turned all the areas named in Lujan-Grisham’s unconstitutional insanity into crime ridden sh*t holes but now they want to whine about what they have created and penalize law abiding citizens as the solution. Lujan-Grisham may not be as old as Biden but a lot of her ideas and diatribe are just as offensive and just as utterly insane.
So now the rules of law are null and void in New Mexico? And not a damn judge any where. Trump tried keeping Terrorists out from terrorists nations, and the damned judges poured out of the woodwork!
Lock her up
Defy her order! Join hands and march thru the streets (with a parade permit or course) with an AR strapped on your back and a handgun strapped onto your hip. Signage I’ll leave to you but mine would blunt and explicit.
Both the local police and county Sheriff in the effected area have stated they will not enforce the Unconstitutional order. The governor claims the State Police will enforce it, because they answer to the governor. I have not verified that they report to the governmor, or that they will enforce the order.
First it was with lockdowns and mandates and now constitutional rights, whats next?
The lock downs and mandates also violated Constitutionally protected rights. The second amendment is just more clear.
They just keep trying to see what they can get away with. Starts in one place then if it goes unchecked spreads all over! IMO
Keep voting democrat folks…the end is near
Why is there no punishment for intentional acts against the Constitution, which are treason?
These democrat politicians still don’t seem to understand they work for the citizens and their operational document is the Constitution. The same Constitution they thumb their nose at in regards to immigration. God only knows how many terrorists have crossed the border into the USA. Yet they think law abiding citizens are the problem. I would love to purchase one of these democrat politicians for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. I would be richer than both Pelosi and Waters net worth combined. I have never seen a more ignorant person than a democrat politician.
Gov wants More crime in state & bye bye tourism
Governor Lujan-Grisham should be impeached for breaking the law. She’s blatantly ignoring our U.S. Constitution which is against the law. Governor or not she should be charged with a crime tried and prosecuted for breaking the laws of our country.
We have finally elected our enemies to govern us. The end is near.
Years ago Kruschev and others said the communism would take over America without a shot being fired and we would like it. No shots were fired but this lezzie has taken over an otherwise great state and taking the guns away from law-abiding citizens. But, if course, her body guards have guns. What if one of her illegal alien friends need one to commit a crime, she will probably give it to them and claim it was stolen.
One has to wonder how a woman this stupid and so easily led by her democrat string pullers ever managed to get elected governor of a state. But then, when we look at other blue states like CA, NY, IL and a few others, it becomes more readily apparent that the governors of blue states are not elected based on intelligence or ability, but rather how much of the leftist Kool Aid they can drink without vomiting or becoming completely brain dead.
In what world was this unilateral, flagrant disregard for the Constitution of the United States a good idea. Even madame governor said it was a bad idea and wouldn’t work to address the problem of gun violence.
In effect, all she did was to, single handedly, remove the God given and Constitutional right of self protection from her citizens and the right of her constituency to protect their loved ones.
Before this moron has finished her a15 minutes of infamy, and the courts body slam her to the mat, what should happen, God forbid, that a citizen or a family in her arbitrary “gun free” zone is killed by a bad guy with a gun? Would the governor be held culpable and criminally negligent for having issued an order disarming the citizen from his constitutional right of protection? I would think that a legal and civil case could be made charging the governor with accessory to murder before the fact. In civil court, certainly charges of gross negligence on her part would be appropriate.
Given that she took on powers that neither the state nor federal constitution authorized her, I would think certainly impeachment and possibly federal charges would be warranted. Although, under Biden’s weaponized DOJ, I don’t see anything like this happening to a fellow democrat.
If this is followed, like the COVID restrictions after the first 30 days, the emergency would be extended indefinitely for one reason after the other. That’s why it has to be challenged and overturned now.
Of course, she’s testing the waters to see how far she can push it. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.
So she thinks that her probably short staffed police force has nothing better to do than to check if people are carrying? I mean, taking care of robberies, murder, rape, abuse, etc. I guess those take a back seat to her brilliance. Drop her like a hot rock and get someone with sense that doesn’t have a Hitler ego.
The argument that they can violate Constitutionally protected rights (or any rights) in an emergency they declare is the argument they can violate right AT WILL.
Liberalism is a mental disease and the Democratic party is the party of chaos and anarchy. Their liberalism creates the problem, then uses the anarchy and chaos to wield power and deny rights. Pretty clever when you think of it…but they can get away with it because the justice system ignores and the corporate media protects.
This country was founded on the ideas of classic liberalism. 9 of the 10 most violent cities in this country are open carry. Violating the constitution… like refusing to step down when voted out? Far more egregious. Assault weapons were illegal for a long time in this country…. Yet the government didn’t seize control….. not that you window lickers with your AR’s could stop the military and thier drones, tanks, helicopters, etc. hell, if you were armed WITH that stuff you’d still lose because your not disciplined enough to maintain a healthy weight, none the less go toe to toe with our extensively trained soldiers. Y’all live in an echo chamber of your own outrage. Go read some books. Get familiar with actual dif points of view, not a radio entertainers skewed summary. Lots of great countries in the world that DO NOT HAVE GUNS. By most accounts, far happier than we are. But that’s just it, y’all do t wanna be happy, you want to be pissed off. You’ll find any excuse.