That didn’t take long.
“No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute. There are restrictions on free speech, there are restrictions on my freedoms,” said New Mexico Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham Friday as she announced a 30-day ban on open or concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.
In the wake of Lujan Grisham’s blatantly unconstitutional order purporting to ban carrying a firearm under a purported “health emergency” more than a hundred people showed-up to openly carry their guns in Albuquerque’s Old Town.
“We’re not here to cause any issues. We’re just here to you know, express our amendment rights. And, you know, we’ll go from there,” said Derek J. a gun owner interviewed by Albuquerque’s KOB4.
“My jaw dropped for a Second Amendment to be suspended. It’s, it’s unconstitutional, we gotta put it that way. A lot of people here feel the same way,” said Derek.
“Governor, we understand what you’re trying to do. We get it, we understand that you know, there’s a huge amount of gun violence here in New Mexico. We get it, be harder on crime, keep them in jail, and that’s all we asked,” said Derek, reported Tamara Lopez of KOB4.
"We all agree that the governor has overstepped her authority and is actually in violation of the law," Steven Garrett said.
According to reporting by KVOA.com, attorney Mark Caruso -- who is working with Gun Owners for America filed a lawsuit against the governor in response to her emergency order.
He said "enough is enough. They were vocalizing what they felt about being deprived of their rights [Sunday]."
ABC News reported the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office will not enforce the concealed carry and open carry ban, Allen said at a press conference on Monday.
Allen said he believes this will not curb gun violence, but will instead hinder law abiding citizens from defending themselves. "Criminals do not follow the law ... Never will see criminals follow the law," Allen said Monday.
That didn’t seem to matter to Gov. Lujan Grisham and her Far Left Progressive allies.
Sheriff Allen’s sensible real-world observations were quickly contradicted by Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, who praised Lujan Grisham's actions, saying, "If it saves one life, then it’s worth doing."
The illogic, nay stupidity of that justification hardly merits rebuttal, let’s just note for the record that applied to any other activity, such as driving a car, selling kitchen knives, or owning a swimming pool, virtually all human activity would be brought to a halt or become permissive at the whim of the state.
As we reported yesterday, New Mexico state representatives Stefani Lord and John Block are calling for the impeachment of Lujan Grisham.
“This is an abhorrent attempt at imposing a radical, progressive agenda on an unwilling populace. Rather than addressing crime at its core, Governor Grisham is restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” the statement from Lord read according to a report in the UK’s Guardian online.
As our good friend Emily Miller reported, “Two gun-rights groups — Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights — both filed lawsuits over the weekend to try to get the ban lifted by a court.”
As Ms. Miller wrote on her must-read Emily Posts News website:
It seems everyone agrees that the New Mexico governor is wrong, but there was much less outrage when this was law in D.C. for decades. I pulled up the story I wrote in 2014 when U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Scullin, Jr. overturned the ban in Palmer v District of Columbia. He wrote:
There is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia's total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny.
Attorney Alan Gura fought the case for five long years.
“We won!” Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs said in a phone interview. “I’m very pleased with the decision that the city can’t forbid the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right.”
Gura told Ms. Miller at the time that he expected the District to appeal this decision, but the city did not. Another case two years later forced the city to drop the part of the law that made people (like Ms. Miller) prove a need for a carry permit.
Emily Miller nailed it – this issue was already litigated in Palmer v. District of Columbia and 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.
While this heads for 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.
You can also buy Emily Miller’s book Emily Gets Her Gun: But Obama Wants to Take Yours through the link and subscribe to her Substack, Emily Posts News here.
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
New Mexico has been a liberal mecca for years. What else do you expect a liberal Democrat governor to do. If there are enough conservative voters in New Mexico, they need to vote her out next election cycle. But I don't expect that to happen, unfortunately.
Impeach her for high treason for violating her oath of office and violating her duty to the Constitution and the citizens of New Mexico, try her, convict her, remove her from office, and execute her by hanging from the highest tree. Video the entire process as a warning to other Communist hypocrites and traitors.
So if she breaking laws- have her arrested and thrown in jail. What's so hard to understand?
Another evil power grabbing Democrat.