Albuquerque residents’ important Second Amendment rights have been temporarily suspended by an emergency order signed by New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. After multiple fatal shootings, Grisham claims this action is required, but she has been warned by her own officials that it is unconstitutional. The sheriff who is supposed to uphold the prohibition has now declared that he will not.
Grisham signed an executive order prohibiting the open carry of weapons in Bernalillo County and the city of Albuquerque on September 8. The ban will remain in effect for 30 days. It covers both open and concealed carry and applies to everyone except licensed security guards and law enforcement. She claims the emergency action is necessary in light of recent gun violence, one incident of which resulted in the death of an 11-year-old child.
However, the state’s Democrat Attorney General, Raul Torrez, has refused to back the law. He wrote to Grisham to tell her he was refusing to defend her administration in two lawsuits that have already been filed against her order, warning her that “my duty to uphold and defend the constitutional rights of every citizen takes precedence” over his obligation to defend state officials. On September 13, a federal judge agreed, issuing a temporary restraining order to block the key section of the order, the ban on legal gun owners carrying in public; District Court Judge David Urias called the ban “not enforceable.”
John Allen, sheriff of Bernalillo County, has also spoken out against the prohibition. A press conference held on September 11th included his remarks, “It’s unconstitutional, so there’s no way we can enforce that order.” He also said it wouldn’t help with crime prevention. Grisham instantly retaliated, calling Sheriff Allen “squeamish” and insisting that immediate action was necessary. But she isn’t likely to get anything done, what with so many of her own officials refusing to implement the executive order and its primary element being suspended by the courts.
