As the New Mexico Supreme Court mulls its decision on gun control executive orders issued by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, she is pushing a legislative agenda to clamp down on Second Amendment rights, according to an NRA lobbyist.
During a webinar on the eve of a 30-day budget session that began on Jan. 16, Tara Mica, a regional lobbyist for the NRA in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi, warned Second Amendment advocates that Ms. Lujan Grisham is almost guaranteed to support all the gun control bills prefiled for this session.
Ms. Mica, an NRA lobbyist for almost 30 years, told webinar participants that the package of bills is the most ambitious package she has ever seen.
During her State of the State Address on the first day of the legislative session, Ms. Lujan Grisham said the proposed new laws aim to enhance safety and protect children.
“No responsible gun owner should be punished or prevented from exercising their rights, and no child should ever be put in danger by a weapon of war. Especially one wielded by a person who can’t pass a background check or wait two weeks to get a firearm,” she said.
The Governor’s office did not respond to emails and telephone messages seeking comment for this story.
Ms. Lujan Grisham said her plan includes a ban on certain semiautomatic rifles, the so-called assault weapons, an increase in the penalties for felons in possession of a gun, a permanent ban on firearms in parks and playgrounds, stricter pretrial detention rules, and laws on dealing with repeat offenders.
As of Jan. 15, four bills had been prefiled in the New Mexico House of Representatives and two in the Senate.
The bills would lengthen the list of people who can report gun owners for so-called red flag orders, make it easier to sue gun makers and sellers, raise the age to purchase and possess semiautomatic pistols and certain ammunition magazines to 21, and extend the waiting period for the purchase of a firearm to 14 business days.
The two Senate bills have not been assigned numbers. The first is a companion to the House bill for a 14 business-day waiting period. The other would impose an 11 percent excise tax on the purchase of firearms and accessories. Ms. Mica said the tax is modeled on the law in another state.
“Another great idea out of California,” she said.
During her address, Ms. Lujan Grisham said her main aim is to prevent children from being killed by guns.
“This is tragic, and it is preventable,” she said. “This is the most important work we’re going to do.”
While all the bills have a chance of passage in the Democrat-controlled legislature, Ms. Mica said the waiting period bill has the best chance of making it to the governor’s desk.
Under the law, the waiting period would begin with the initiation of a federal background check. It is meant to reduce the opportunity for gun violence and suicide. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Andrea Romero (D-District 46).
This means that a gun purchase made on the Friday before a holiday weekend could take almost three weeks to complete, she said.
“It would make for the longest firearm purchase delay in the country,” Ms. Mica said.
Currently, law enforcement officials are the only people who can petition the court for an ERPO. HB 27 would allow them to also report gun owners as possible ERPO candidates, meaning the officer who wrote the individual would also petition the court against them. Ms. Mica said this would remove an essential check from the process.
Also, the bill would allow “licensed health care professionals” to report individuals. However, the bill doesn’t define a “licensed health care professional.”
According to Ms. Mica, this could include doctors, nurses, chiropractors, and other health care workers who may or may not be qualified to determine whether someone presented a danger to themselves or others.
The bill would also require people subject to ERPOs to relinquish their firearms immediately instead of within 24 hours as currently needed. This would ensure that the firearms would end up in state custody. Now, the gun owner has time to turn the guns over to a federal firearms license holder to store them for the duration of the ERPO.
“We need to make a lot of noise on this one,” she told the webinar participants.
Reps. Christine Chandler (D-District 43) and Joy Garratt (D-District 29) sponsored the bill.
Ms. Mica said HB 114, “The Firearms Industry Accountability Act,” (Act) would make it easier to sue gun manufacturers and sellers.
Ms. Mica said the law does this by creating new crimes specific to the firearms industry. She said the law would cripple the gun industry, thereby denying all Americans the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
“This is really critical,” she told the webinar attendees.
California-Style Tax Proposed
Ms. Mica said gun owners should speak out on a bill that would impose an 11 percent excise tax on the purchase of guns and accessories.The bill is sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez (D-District 11).
Ms. Mica said the bill had to be prevented from being passed because any legal challenges to it as a law could have unintended consequences.
The proposed law would place the money raised into a crime prevention fund, similar to how the “Pittman-Robertson Act” uses taxes paid by hunters for conservation. She said that if the bill is passed and then challenged in court, a successful challenge could endanger similar tax plans, like Pittman Robertson.
She said stopping the bill before it reaches Ms. Lujan Grisham’s desk is essential.
