A federal judge has blocked an unconstitutional order from New Mexico’s Democrat governor that suspended the right to carry guns in public, according to multiple media
reports and a statement from gun rights advocacy group the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) that filed the lawsuit over Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s original order.
United States District Court Judge David Urias issued a temporary restraining order against Democrat Lujan Grisham’s executive order banning firearm carry in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque. The order in Fort v. Grisham, which Judge Urias said will be issued as early as Thursday, September 14, 2023.
“We’re thrilled that the Court has ruled in our favor and upheld the Second Amendment, the U.S. Constitution, and Supreme Court precedent,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s General Counsel and Vice President of Legal, and counsel for FPC. “Gov. Grisham’s executive order is blatantly unconstitutional and we look forward to continue proving as much in Court.”
FPC is joined in the litigation by the Second Amendment Foundation and New Mexico Shooting Sports Association.
Our good friend Emily Miller, author of Emily Gets Her Gun: But Obama Wants to Take Yours, has been following this matter closely. And observed despite Democrat Governor Lujan Grisham’s unconstitutional exercise of her purported “COVID superpowers,” the government can’t forbid the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right.
Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order under the guise of her purported COVID Superpowers was so out there even her fellow New Mexico Democrats, Attorney General Raul Torrez and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, slapped it down.
State Senator Cervantes, a key legislative ally of the governor on gun control initiatives urged her to rescind the public health order.
“An unconstitutional approach undermines the important collaboration gun issues deserve, and the important role of a Governor to lead genuine reforms,” Democratic state Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Cervantes had successfully sponsored a 2020 red flag law making it easier for authorities to take weapons from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
Stating that he wouldn’t defend lawsuits against the gun restriction, Attorney General Torrez wrote, "Simply put, I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety but, more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster."
General Torrez is right, and as Hannah Hill, executive director of the Firearms Policy Coalition’s legal branch, said in a statement, “There is no exception to the Second Amendment. As a result of today’s temporary restraining order, the law-abiding gun owners of Albuquerque are able once again to exercise their right to bear arms.”
Even the generally Far Left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) came out against Lujan Grisham’s order. “This kind of approach leads to the over-policing of our communities, racial profiling, and increased misery in the lives of already marginalized people,” said Lalita Moskowitz, litigation manager for the ACLU of New Mexico. “The governor should be following evidence-based solutions such as meaningful diversion and violence intervention programs and addressing the root causes of violence."
However, the constitutional argument, even when advanced by those on the Left, didn’t seem to sway the radicals among New Mexico Democrats.
Saira Rao, co-founder of Here4TheKids, a group advocating for banning guns and fossil fuels outright, praised Lujan Grisham’s actions — and wished it should be made permanent.
“It’s inhumane that we haven’t eliminated the number one killer of children and teens in this country,” she said. “So I salute the governor for making that first brave step for saving our children.”
We call BS on the claim that the number one killer of children and teens is guns. The claim that guns were the leading cause of death for U.S. children in 2020 and 2021 is true only if the selected age range is 1-19 years old. This range excludes infants under one year old, who have a unique risk of age-specific causes of death. Similarly, capping the age range at 17, instead of 18 or 19, also alters the result, as children aged 17 and under have a greater risk of dying of vehicle-related injuries.
Although we constitutional conservatives won an initial battle, this fight is not over. While it works its way through court you can join the fight even if you don’t live in New Mexico by going to the Firearms Policy Coalition website, the National Association for Gun Rights website, or the website of our old friends at Gun Owners of America to contribute to their efforts to fight unconstitutional gun laws.
CHQ Editor George Rasley is a certified rifle and pistol instructor, a Glock ® certified pistol armorer and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant, or advance representative for some of America's most recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.
Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
New Mexico
gun control
Second Amendment
Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen
Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman
joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller
Police Chief Harold Medina
firearms suspension
Firearms Policy Coalition
National Association for Gun Rights
Gun Owners of America
State spending
public health emergency
The claim that guns were the leading cause of death for U.S. children in 2020 and 2021 is true only if the selected age range is 1-19 years old.
The same crowd that makes such claims advocates for lowering the voting age to 16. So when do they think a child becomes an adult, 16 or 19 or some other age? Leave it to a liberal to be wishy-washy.