New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued a "public health emergency order" that purportedly suspends the right to bear arms in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County. The order, which lasts for 30 days but can be renewed, applies to concealed or open carry of firearms on public property, with exceptions for police officers and security guards. Grisham said "citizens with permits to carry firearms are free to possess their weapons on private property (such as at a gun range or gun store), provided they transport the firearm in a locked box, use a trigger lock, or [use] some other mechanism that renders the gun incapable of being fired."
The order covers "cities or counties averaging 1,000 or more violent crimes per 100,000 residents per year since 2021," a criterion currently met only by Bernalillo County. Grisham, a Democrat, says the carry ban is a necessary response to "recent shooting deaths of a thirteen-year-old girl on July 28, a five-year-old girl on August 14, and an eleven-year-old boy on September 6, as well as two mass shootings this year." At a press conference on Friday, she conceded that the order was apt to be challenged in court as a violation of the Second Amendment but added, "I welcome the debate and the fight about making New Mexicans safer."
