Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
New Mexico’s governor last week issued an “emergency health order” that bans firearms in all public places in Albuquerque.
The only people exempt from the ban are police and security officers. And criminals, of course. Criminals don’t follow laws, so this nonsense does not apply to them either.
Michelle Lujan Grisham herself said she expects opposition from those who care about liberty and the U.S. Constitution.
She was right. New Mexico’s House and Senate Republicans immediately announced plans to file a federal lawsuit.
“It is unacceptable that the federal and state constitutional rights of New Mexicans have been wholly disregarded in a political stunt by the governor,” said House Republican Leader Ryan Lane of Aztec. He expressed “outrage” and declared “one political figure will not erase our shared history.”
There’s no way the governor’s new rule will be allowed to stand. Local laws and state laws cannot trump federal laws. Lujan Grisham told us that when anti-abortion crowds came to Clovis, remember? So what’s the point with the gun ban?
“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” Lujan Grisham said Friday. … “(T)he time for standard measures has passed. When New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game — when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn — something is very wrong.”
Apparently her point is that we need some new ideas about how to fight violent crime. Who can argue with that? But the outlaw-guns plan is not new or remotely realistic.
A more realistic plan is to lock up violent criminals for way longer than the court system is keeping them jailed now. That’s not a “deterrent” for those thinking about committing violent crimes; it is a way to remove violent criminals from our crowds, schools and baseball games until we can figure out ways to rehabilitate them.
The political website The Hill reports local law enforcement is not on board with the governor’s plan.
“While I understand and appreciate the urgency, the temporary ban challenges the foundation of our constitution, which I swore an oath to uphold,” Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said in a statement. “I am wary of placing my deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts, as well as the potential risks posed by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self-defense.”
Making up laws that only target law-abiding gun owners just wastes time and energy we should be employing to find long-term solutions to senseless shootings.
If we want a kinder, gentler world, we have to change hearts and minds one at a time, addressing root causes for the anger that often stems from poverty and other injustices. That’s going to take a while. We didn’t get this mad overnight, we’re not going to find better ways to resolve conflict overnight either.
David Stevens is editor and publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Email him at: