A federal judge has blocked part of a public health order that suspended the right to carry guns in public across Albuquerque, New Mexico, the state’s largest metro area, as criticism mounted over the actions taken by the governor and political divides widened.
The ruling Wednesday by US district judge David Urias marks a setback for Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Democratic governor, as she responds to several recent shootings that took the lives of children, including an 11-year-old boy as he left a minor league baseball game in Albuquerque.
Lujan Grisham imposed an emergency public health order Friday that suspended the right to open or concealed carry of guns in public places based on a statistical threshold for violent crime that is only encountered in Albuquerque and its outskirts. The governor cited the recent shootings, saying something needed to be done. She acknowledged that some would ignore the order.
Violators would have faced civil penalties and a fine of up to $5,000 by state police. The local sheriff and Albuquerque’s police chief had refused to enforce the order.
Advocates for gun rights filed a barrage of legal challenges to the order in US district court in Albuquerque alleging infringement of civil rights under the second amendment. Republicans in the legislative majority have called for impeachment proceedings against the governor.
Lujan Grisham has remained defiant despite protests that have drawn crowds to public squares in Albuquerque over recent days. The governor is testing the boundaries of her executive authority again after using public health orders for aggressive lockdowns during the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mothers and military veterans have been among those demonstrating, many with holstered handguns on their hips and rifles slung over their shoulders. They have voiced concerns about the ability to protect themselves from violent crime in a city that has been scarred by drive-by shootings and deadly road-rage incidents.
Even top Democrats, including Raúl Torrez, the state attorney general,have suggested that the governor’s time would have been better spent developing comprehensive legislation to tackle the issue.
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New Mexico is an open-carry state, so the governor’s order suspending the open and concealed carry of firearms affects anyone in Bernalillo county who can legally own a gun, with some exceptions. Just more than 14,500 people in the county have an active concealed-carry license, according to an Associated Press analysis of data provided by the New Mexico department of public safety for the 2023 fiscal year.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
