{"id":215028,"date":"2021-03-12T10:29:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T15:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=215028"},"modified":"2021-03-12T10:38:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T15:38:39","slug":"bill-to-expand-new-mexicos-red-flag-gun-laws-hits-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-to-expand-new-mexicos-red-flag-gun-laws-hits-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to Expand New Mexico\u2019s Red Flag Gun Laws Hits Hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbill-to-expand-new-mexicos-red-flag-gun-laws-hits-hurdle%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=215028&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A bill that seeks to expand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-new-mexico\">New Mexico<\/a>\u2019s fledgling red flag gun laws has been bumped from this year\u2019s 60-day legislative session by more pressing priorities, according to local reports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor all intents and purposes, it\u2019s gone, unless something really radical changes,\u201d one of the bill\u2019s Democrat sponsors, State Rep. Daymon Ely, told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/legislature\/bill-expanding-new-mexico-s-red-flag-gun-law-fizzles\/article_0470e74e-81be-11eb-af98-c7178770b6ea.html\">Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cBut there are just too many other priorities this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Calling the bill\u2019s demise in this year\u2019s session a \u201ccalendar management problem,\u201d Ely told the outlet he hopes to revive House Bill 193 next year.<\/p>\n<p>The measure sought to expand New Mexico\u2019s existing red flag gun law, called the Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/Sessions\/20%20Regular\/final\/SB0005.pdf\">pdf<\/a>),\u00a0by letting law enforcement officers\u2014of their own accord and based on their own observations\u2014apply for a court order to temporarily take away guns from a person considered a threat.<\/p>\n<p>Current law allows police to apply for an\u00a0extreme-risk protection order (ERPO) only at the request of specified \u201creporting parties\u201d\u2014people who have a closer relationship with the individual being targeted for firearms confiscation, such as spouses or employers. Filing of such a petition must also be based on police being presented with credible evidence that a person poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to themselves or to others by having access to a firearm.<\/p>\n<p>Guns confiscated by the Santa Ana Police Department are displayed for a press event in Santa Ana, Calif., on March 11, 2021. (John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times)<\/p>\n<p>The amendment is opposed by the\u00a0National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), which criticized the measure as overreach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nraila.org\/articles\/20210208\/important-information-for-testifying-in-committee-on-tuesday-against-hb-193-hb-166-and-for-watching-hearing-online\">in a recent statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHouse Bill 193 is an amendment to the red flag firearms surrender law that would allow a police officer to petition for an extreme risk protective order directly and to confiscate any firearms discovered when serving the order,\u201d the organization said. \u201cKeep in mind that no crime has to be committed, or alleged to have been committed, for the order to be issued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The current red flag law went into effect in May 2020, after being signed into law by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is another meaningful and productive step forward in our effort to keep New Mexico communities safe,\u201d Grisham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/2020\/01\/08\/governor-announces-erpo-2020\/\">said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cSurely we can all agree that if someone is making threats of harm, we must act to prevent it. The alternative is to leave New Mexicans at risk\u2013and that is flatly unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the bill\u2019s co-sponsors, Rep. Joy Garratt, argued for the adoption of extreme-risk protection orders as a suicide-reduction measure, noting that\u00a0New Mexico\u2019s suicide rate is at least 50 percent higher than the national rate and that suicides make up around 70 percent of all firearm deaths.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis law gives law enforcement and our courts an additional tool to prevent crime in New Mexico and reduce firearm-related homicides and suicide deaths,\u201d Garrett <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/2020\/01\/08\/governor-announces-erpo-2020\/\">said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The bill was met with opposition from some New Mexico law enforcement officials, with Sheriff Corey Helton of Lea County saying he would rather go to jail than enforce the law, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taosnews.com\/news\/politics\/governor-signs-controversial-red-flag-bill-into-law\/article_6aea1d57-90bd-5a2a-aa55-1cce03783853.html\">according to Taos News<\/a>. This was echoed by the head of the New Mexico Sheriffs\u2019 Association, who said most sheriffs in the state would refuse to confiscate a person\u2019s firearms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t work for the governor. We don\u2019t work for the Legislature,\u201d Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace told The New Mexican. \u201cWe have discretion to use whichever laws we want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NRA-ILA has also criticized the red flag law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNew Mexico\u2019s ERPO law has been a failure, as has every gun-control law passed in New Mexico,\u201d the organization said. \u201cNo one has been made safer as anti-gun lawmakers, elected with the support of billionaire gun control financier Michael Bloomberg, have rushed to trample on New Mexicans\u2019 civil liberties with little or no due process. This law should not be expanded, it should be repealed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of mid-February 2021, the ERPO law has been applied just four times across New Mexico since it went into effect in May, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/michelle-lujan-grisham-shootings-parkland-florida-school-shooting-gun-politics-new-mexico-f0d5dc39f8600951505404e5f90569e0\">according to The Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Administrative Office of the Courts confirmed Tuesday that a total of four petitions for extreme risk firearm protection orders had been filed through January in Eddy, Santa Fe, Taos, and San Juan counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bill that seeks to expand New Mexico\u2019s fledgling red flag gun laws has been bumped from this year\u2019s 60-day legislative session by more pressing priorities, according to local reports. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2275636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}