New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
Courtesy KOB

 

Today, embattled New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham updated her “emergency public health order” that suspended Second Amendment carry rights in the state’s largest county and city. Following a temporary restraining order issued by a federal District Court Judge blocking enforcement of her ban, the Governor has done an about face.

Grisham has lifted the carry ban in Bernalillo County and the city of Albuquerque, and “amended” the ban to now only apply to “parks or playgrounds where we know we’ve got high risk of kids and families.”

What that looks like in practice isn’t really clear.

You can hear the Governor’s tap-dancing, hour-long press conference here . . .

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81 COMMENTS

  1. It’s sad that this is allowed to continue because courts evolved warped views on “activism” vs. “restraint”.

        • They are still covered under the Gun Free Zone Act. Just like dealing drugs within 1000ft of a park. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

        • You mean “The Gun-Free School Zones Act [which] amended Title 18 of the federal criminal code to prohibit the possession or discharge of a firearm in a school zone. Individuals who violated the act were to be subject to a maximum of $5,000 in fines and/or a maximum of five years in prison.[1]

          For the purposes of the law, a school zone was defined as “in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school; or within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.””

        • Darkman
          Found this at https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/federal-ccw-law/federally-banned-locations-for-carrying-firearms/

          18 U.S. Code § 922 – Unlawful acts

          18 U.S. Code § 922(q)

          (A) It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.
          (B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to the possession of a firearm—
          (i) on private property not part of school grounds;
          (ii) if the individual possessing the firearm is

          licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State,

          and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license;
          (iii) that is—
          (I) not loaded; and
          (II) in a locked container, or a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle;

      • Well in my little town, the local LEO’s don’t enforce this rule..

        Unless it is a “ROOKIE or new Hire from another major City”, and the ticket is torn up if you just show up at the local Police Station, with a complaint!!!

        Main road goes by the school!!!

        • Does NOT. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for getting your ass hauled off to jail. Your state permit does exclude you from federal law.

        • When you find yourself arguing with / “correcting” essentially every commenter on this page (including our resident legal expert, plus at least three of us who have cited or linked the law) you might want to stop to consider the possibility that you aren’t correct.

          You could try citing your law and prove us all wrong. Of course, if you start by looking up Gun Free Zones Act, you’ll find Google is “wrong” too because all the results are about the Schools version (the law that actually exists).

    • Hear ye Hear ye kidnappers, child molesters, perverts et al…Parents of children in NM parks and playgrounds are unarmed and defenseless by order of governor michelle l. grisham. That is all.

    • she still doesn’t get it…the people she’s targeting…the law abiding…are not the threat…the ones who are…are going to ignore any restrictions she tries to impose…

      • LKB, how does this affect the upcoming hearing?

        Can she specify “parks and playgrounds?”

        How about the new rules on FFLs?

        • The new rules on FFL’s aren’t in any of the complaints, as far as I have seen. I suspect NSSF will file suit if she sticks on this.

          As far as “parks and playgrounds,” I expect the plaintiffs to push the issue, as I don’t think the State is going to be able to satisfy the historical analogue proof required for that to stick. And I would hope the plaintiff in Blas case pushes the New Mexico State Constitution provision and his NMCRA class action claims, as that should also come into play.

  4. Gets dumber and dumber.
    I got a great liberal idea!
    Ban carrying firearms within 100 yards of children since they’re so at risk.

    • Even more, let’s have a federal ban on firearms within 1000 feet of any school, regardless if someone even passed a federal (*cough cough NICS*) background check. Because even though the feds admit you’re good when you take the test over *here*, they don’t intend to say you’re good when you’re standing over *there*.

      Because science, I guess…

      • “Even more, let’s have a federal ban on firearms within 1000 feet of any school, regardless if someone even passed a federal (*cough cough NICS*) background check.”

        We have recent news on just such a scenario :

        “Federal School Zone Charges for Shotgun at Home”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJUWWMo_cSE

        • The story I read previously stated that he had a habit of walking back and forth with his shotgun on the public sidewalk when children were arriving or leaving the school. There were a huge number of complaints. A public sidewalk within 1000′ is within the GFSZ. In his yard is not. I guess we will have to see how the facts play out.

        • It’s seldom wise to behave in a manner that worries the general public while armed, and the sidewalk is most likely public property, not his own. Interesting that the local PD had no idea about the federal law. Same as when NH went to permitless carry in 2017; 2 different newspaper articles by law enforcement officers on where one could legally carry failed to mention the federal “gun free” school zones law.

          https://www.ktvq.com/news/crime-watch/billings-man-who-displayed-firearm-across-from-school-arrested

        • @Serpent: Still, his intent was not to harm children or anyone else but to protect himself from a clearly dangerous, probably deranged neighbor. The arrest was completely unwarranted and the sidewalk infractions were most likely trips to his mailbox. The hoplophobes that complained causing the police harassment need to get a life.

        • VNVet69 – The complaints to police about him were not going to his mailbox, they were about him walking up and down the sidewalk. Look, if I were king I’d get rid of gun free zones, they are nothing but killing fields. But we don’t live in the world we wish for, we live in the world as it is. As law-abiding gun owners, don’t you think it’s smart to know WTF the law is regarding possessing guns in front of a school in front of your house? This isn’t a stupid state trespassing infraction. I carry concealed past those signs all the time. This guy faces federal prison and huge fine. And he has a public defender because he can’t afford his own lawyer, going against the unlimited resources of the USA who love to set examples.

          My sympathy for him only goes so far.

        • @Palo So you believe the Karens/hoplophobes that were filing the complaints? You really think he was “walking up and down the sidewalks?” Sorry, I don’t buy it. We only know a little about the guy but we do know that his motive was not to harm anyone but to defend himself against a clear and present danger.

        • VNVet69 – What was the clear and present danger here? The school children? Their patents dropping them off? Some neighbor that no one else seemed to see as a threat?

          Basic survival instinct is to be wary of people (or other animals) that are behaving strangely, so someone publicly acting bizarrely with a gun is going to get reported. Had he stayed on his property, he’d be within his rights, but it’s still a jerk move to continue an activity that people have told you is scaring people. Not the sort of person who wins any hearts and minds for the side promoting gun rights.

        • VNVet69 – it doesn’t matter what I believe, I wasn’t there, I have no idea. The news said police got dozens of calls for weeks. This is what I know: he gets to make his case in court, can’t afford a lawyer, and is at the mercy of a jury.

          Our culture is full of F-ing morons and we have more and more prosecutors who take advantage of that. Why on earth would you beg this shitshow to upend your life? Like I said, I wish America were different. It’s not.

          Also – if I had a dangerous, threatening neighbor, I already know my house is a death trap for an intruder. I would not camp out every single day IN MY FRONT YARD HELLO I’M YOUR SITTING DUCK! with my AR, school or no school. I’ll defend this guy’s rights all day long. I won’t defend his lack of common sense.

        • @Serpent Maybe we’re reading different articles but my understanding was that he had a restraining order against his neighbor for making threats against his life and that the police had orders to avoid contact with said neighbor to avoid a bad outcome. How is that “no one else seemed to see as a threat?” You must be reading the leftist version.

        • @Palo Your initial post convicted him based on hearsay. There is no accusation that he did this “every day” (though he may have), only that the police had a lot of complaints. As for walking up and down the sidewalk, I just don’t buy it. It’s far more likely that the hoplophobic Karens reporting this are exaggerating (to put it kindly).

          Yes, there are crazies and weirdos everywhere. I just get the feeling this is some guy trying to get by and stay alive. We all have to make the trip to the mailbox and if someone has threatened to kill you, well you just have to do what you have to do to protect yourself. If I’m wrong, so be it, but that’s the way the story rings with me.

        • VNVet69 – You said his infractions were most likely trips to his mailbox. All I said was – not according to the complaints to police. I know what we read in the news can be absolute horseshit, at the same time, I can only go by what I read.

          And I’m not saying that you have to take the side of the US Govt here. No. I don’t trust the federal government for a damn thing these days. It’s just that what you and I believe doesn’t matter. It’s up to a jury now. You and I are talking on a site, at home, maybe you’re on a phone. Whatever, we’re not doing this from prison. This guy is the one facing prison, and I would not trade my spot for his. I don’t think this guy thought about all the variables like he should have. Maybe I’m wrong. Even if he did, he’s still in the same tight spot.

          If the risks are worth it for someone, I’m not gonna stop them (unless they are absolutely reckless and dangerous about it, which this guy was not). Just think about what you’re doing first.

          Anyway, I respect your opinion. Also – thanks for your service.

    • One has to wonder whether he’d have quit had the feds informed him of the law, rather than immediately jumping to arresting and charging him. Good thing no dogs were shot in the process.

      • That’s a great point. We supposedly have law enforcement to keep us safe and serve justice. If that’s really the point, and he wasn’t a threat, then that should have been the first course of action.

  5. Parks and playgrounds where it is important for parents to carry guns to protect the children this idiot claims she is so worried about. The stupid is broad and deep here.

  6. Yeah, totally wouldn’t wanna protect myself and my loved ones at a park or playground. Totally wouldn’t want solo female (whatever that means these days) joggers being able to defend themselves against predators, both two and four legged. Grisham needs to stay up in her ivory tower and socially distance herself from the rest of us. Has that demon spawned offspring? God’s sake, I hope not.

    • She has two kids. Let that sink in. Some “man” injected his penis into her and married her to boot. Scary world we live in.

  7. “amended” the ban to now only apply to “parks or playgrounds where we know we’ve got high risk of kids and families.”

    So she has made these places soft targets.

    • She didn’t do anything since the carrying of firearms was already against the law in parks and playgrounds under the Gun Free Zone Act.

        • Gun Free School Zone Act was declared unconstitutional by SCOTUS long ago in U.S. v. Lopez (too attenuated a connection to interstate commerce — first pushback against the Wickard v. Filburn “anything goes” rule).

          DoJ purported to “amend” the GFSZA in 2022, but the legality / effectiveness of that is highly suspect (last time I checked, the only body that can modify a statute is Congress).

          I suspect NM has a state law on point, but its validity under Bruen and the NM constitution will be questionable.

        • Update: Oops, I missed something. Congress *did* amend the GFSZA in 1996 to provide that it only applied to guns that have “moved in or otherwise affect interstate commerce.” While this is a transparent dodge that some circuits have rejected, others have accepted it.

          Of course, there’s been no post-Bruen challenge to the GFSZA that I am aware of, and I seriously doubt that the 1000′ range of the GFSZA will sustain a Bruen challenge. But it’s still a potential land mine out there, especially if you are relying on Constitutional Carry rather than a CHL.

  8. Parks and playgrounds where it is important for parents to carry guns to protect the children this idiot claims she is so worried about. The stupid is broad and deep here. Just ate a big bowl of pigs feet, sourkrout and boiled carrots and taters.

  10. Unacceptable! Open carry perhaps by legislative process would be more difficult to fight but both open and concealed through fiat is completely unacceptable and beyond the authority of the governor. How is it she thinks she can deny people the right to protect their children in public spaces? Totally absurd and does not moot the pending cases as far as I can tell. Further, she did not back down on the FFL inspections that she has no authority to order to be conducted. She needs to be ousted!

    • Lets arrest everyone that passes laws or edicts that violate the civil rights of others and remove them permanently from office. The supreme court really screwed up when they went the “sensitive places ” bullshit.

  12. She probably received a call from the DNC along the lines of: “WTF are you doing?” “Back-off there are implications for close races that we can’t afford to lose” “After we steal the WH again in 2024 you can go whole-hog wild and beat the peons.”

  14. Take note all you bangers! Whenever you bring your little brothers/sisters to the swingset, check your guns at the gate! You’ll get them back as you leave, and *wink* be nice out there!

    *sigh*🙄

  15. “the ban to now only apply to ‘parks or playgrounds where we know we’ve got high risk of kids and families.”

    basically another gun free zone, and she just made those “high risk of kids and families” defenseless targets. ya think the bad guys kinda almost left those areas alone because they were being nice before? No. they left them alone before because 8 out of every 10 visitors to those areas were armed law abiding citizens.

  16. Oh, I’d feel MUCH safer being in a park knowing that licensed concealed carriers are banned from carrying but scum-bag criminals will obey that same order.

    What a TWIT.

  19. Still not within her power. She’s not the legislature; she can’t write laws, amend laws, or override laws. She wants to be a dictator, a tyrant.

    More importantly, “parks or playgrounds where we know we’ve got high risk of kids and families” are the very places where parents need to be able to carry guns to protect their children and families. Bad guys will still carry guns (she admits criminals won’t follow her rules), so her edict only affects law-abiding people, and law-abiding people are not the problem. About 95% of mass shootings happen in disarmed-victim zones (so-called “gun-free” zones), and her solution is to create more disarmed-victim zones?!?

  21. So is another – possibly larger – rally planned for this weekend or next? Talk about getting her tats in the wringer!!

  22. Keep on pushing this one. I think the best way to train the left to obey is to push back so hard they loose ground! Impeachment and removal from office is more than likely the best option as this also violates the NM State Constitution she is sworn to uphold.

  23. A writer at Legal Insurrection makes a terrific argument:

    In issuing the restraining order, Judge Urias wrote:

    “In addition, Defendants are ENJOINED from applying, enforcing, or attempting to enforce, either criminally or civilly, Section (4) of the New Mexico Department of Health’s “Public Health Emergency Order Imposing Temporary Firearm Restrictions, Drug Monitoring and Other Public Safety Measures” to the extent it imposes additional restrictions on the carrying or possession of firearms that were not already in place prior to its issuance.”

    Section 4 reads as follows:

    “No person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm on state property, public schools, and public parks.”

    If the “amended order” is a change to Section 4, isn’t the governor still enjoined from enforcing it?

  24. Albuquerque Gun Shops See Spike In Sales After Governor’s Ban

    Gun stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico have seen a surge in customers after Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order banning the carrying of firearms in and around the city…

    Another Albuquerque gun store owner, Walt Bracken, told the Times that he’s also noticed an uptick in sales…

    A clerk at Right to Bear Arms who asked to remain anonymous told the Epoch Times: “We have seen a definite jump in traffic because people are nervous, and rightfully so, when they think their right to purchase a gun won’t be around in the near future,” adding:

    “There is definitely a joke in the gun community that the policies of the left are the greatest salesman of all time.”

  25. Does not matter, She has already violated her oath of office and deprived NM citizens of their constitutional rights. Why is there not a federal violation of civil rights investigation? She needs to be in prison or jail.

  26. This is one of the reasons they want the 2nd destroyed…

    moonbattery[dot]com/property-rights-hang-on-bureaucrats-whims/

    “From the Federal Register, dated September 4, 2020:

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the issuance of an Order under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act to temporarily halt residential evictions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

    With this agency order, the deed to every rental property in the United States passed from its previous owner to the federal government. The former owners are still responsible for upkeep, but are only allowed to collect rent in accordance with the vagaries of bureaucrats.”

  27. We’ve seen what happens when anti-gun left wing idiots create ‘gun free zones’ that larger groups of people inhabit/use. Over 95% of mass shootings take place in ‘gun free zones’ and in the last 40 years in case no one has been noticing 99% of those ‘Over 95%’ mass shootings (which includes school shootings) took place in ‘gun free zones’ that were established as a result of an anti-gun left wing idiot policy.

    The anti-gun left wing is all about guaranteeing by law that mentally ill criminal mass murder predators and criminals in general have access to defenseless prey. Mentally ill criminal mass murder predators and all criminals gladly ignore the laws against murder and other crimes and ignore signs that say ‘No Guns’ because they know this is not a Harry Potter movie and magic isn’t real and a law doesn’t actually stop them from choosing to do it.

    This seems to be a fact that people can not comprehend, laws and ‘gun free zones’ have absolutely zero protective effect when that criminal is right there in front of you trying to kill you – that’s right, laws and ‘gun fee zones’ do not protect you. The only entity of protection you have in that imminent moment is you or someone else willing to protect you, the best proven chance of protection you have in that imminent moment is a firearm.

    But while this New Mexico tyrant and all anti-gun left wing politicians hide behind the tax payer funded heavily armed protective details they will gladly disarm the citizens with a ‘No Guns’ sign or prohibition and then claim they will be safer because of some words they wrote on paper pretending to use some sort of Hogwarts magic that some way or another makes mentally ill criminal mass killers and other criminals choose not to commit their acts of crime. Then when that criminal-act of violence happens the anti-gun left wing will gladly dance in the blood of the innocent and use it to make a call for disarming more people to create more defenseless prey for criminals.

  32. I suppose to avoid the 18 U.S. Code § 922(q) “a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce” you could carry a gun that was BUILT in the state that you are IN, but like was indicated on here already, a lot of courts are saying that the interstate commerce clause effecting the law is “tenuous at best.”

    I would HOPE that an organization as involved in this as the USCCA is would note that the GFSZ would create problems for CCW holders, but they specifically list that it DOESN’T APPLY to holders of a CCW issued for THE STATE IN WHICH THE ZONE IS LOCATED. They say it doesn’t work for permits that are from States that have reciprocity.

    http://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/federal-ccw-law/federally-banned-locations-for-carrying-firearms/

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