Judge halts New Mexico Governor’s gun ban.
New Mexico Governor’s Gun Ban Temporarily Blocked by Federal Judge
A federal judge on Wednesday issued a temporary block on a ban on carrying guns in New Mexico’s largest city, thrusting the state into the heart of the U.S. gun-rights debate.
U.S. District Court Judge David Urias ruled that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s suspension of concealed and open firearm carry rights in Albuquerque and its surrounding county violated a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the right to carry a gun outside of one’s home for self-defense.
“They just want the right to carry their guns,” stated Urias, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, referring to the plaintiffs who sought a temporary restraining order against parts of Lujan Grisham’s emergency public health order issued on September 8.
The Democratic governor implemented the suspension of firearm carry laws to establish a “cooling-off period” for authorities to address the state’s high rates of gun crime, following the tragic deaths of several children in recent weeks.
“Over the past four days, I’ve witnessed more attention being given to resolving the crisis of gun violence than I have in the past four years,” expressed Lujan Grisham in a statement following Urias’s ruling.
While gun-rights advocates were outraged by her order, fellow Democrats and law enforcement officials criticized it as unconstitutional.
“Governor Grisham’s tyranny is temporarily in check today,” declared Dudley Brown, president of a Colorado gun group that sued the governor.
Gun control campaigners commended Lujan Grisham’s “courage,” while Santa Fe’s Catholic archbishop expressed concern that more value was being placed on gun rights than on the life of an 11-year-old boy who was killed in an apparent road rage incident in Albuquerque last week.
In response to the gun ban, both Albuquerque’s mayor and Bernalillo County’s sheriff called for a special session of the state’s legislature to address gun crime.
Mayor Tim Keller emphasized the need for legislation to fix a broken criminal justice system, regulate assault weapons, and provide addiction and mental health services, among other measures.
“Albuquerque families can’t afford political debates that distract us from fighting violent crime,” wrote Keller in a letter to the governor.
According to gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety, around 500 people die from guns each year in New Mexico, ranking the state sixth in gun deaths per capita. Additionally, Albuquerque is among the top 10 most dangerous U.S. cities based on FBI violent crime data.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay; additional reporting by Nate Raymond and Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Stephen Coates and Diane Craft)
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