‘We Will Not Comply’: Gun Owners Publicly Defy New Mexico Governor’s Firearms Ban

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks in Santa Fe, N.M., on Jan. 21, 2020. Craig Fritz/AP Photo

Gun owners and activists held a protest over New Mexico’s temporary ban on carrying firearms in public in the state capital and surrounding county, insisting that they won’t comply with the order.

To defy the governor’s ban on open and concealed carry of firearms, the gun owners, “many visibly armed,” held a rally in Old Town, Albuquerque, on Sept. 10, video journalist Ford Fischer shared on X, formerly Twitter.

One speaker insisted that the order “will not stand, we will not comply,” which was met with loud applause from the crowd.

A counterprotester who was invited to take the microphone said he was concerned about violence in schools, but the speaker who was with the rally replied that arming veterans and well-trained teachers would be a deterrent against school shooters.

The crowd initially yelled at the counterprotester for wearing a mask and applauded when he took the mask off.

The temporary ban on carrying guns was imposed by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Sept. 8 after issuing an emergency public health order following recent shootings that led to the deaths of several children. The ban is in effect in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County for at least 30 days.

In a Sept. 9 post on X, Sheriff John Allen from Bernalillo County said that he isn’t in “complete alignment with the Governor’s recent order.”

“I have reservations regarding this order. While I understand and appreciate the urgency, the temporary ban challenges the foundation of our Constitution, which I swore an oath to uphold. 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,” he wrote.

“I was elected to represent and safeguard all constituents and to ensure the balance between our rights and public safety is maintained.”

Order Comes Under Criticism

The gun ban has attracted severe criticism online.

“The Governor of New Mexico now wants to arrest law-abiding gun owners simply for owning guns. Either she isn’t aware of the Constitution or has simply decided to go fascist and ignore it. Either way, we have a problem,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote in a Sept. 9 post on X.

A gun salesman holds a Walther PDP Pro 9mm handgun at Lawful Defense in Gainesville, Fla., on April 19, 2023. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

“Any ban on firearms doesn’t affect criminals. Because criminals don’t obey laws. So what the New Mexico governor is doing will prevent lawful gun owners from protecting themselves against criminal gun users. Never forget: when a Democrat talks about gun control, they really mean PEOPLE control,” she wrote in another post.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) pointed out that he had introduced an amendment one month ago that sought to prevent President Joe Biden or the Department of Health and Human Services from declaring a “public health emergency” to impose gun control measures.

“Critics said that would never happen. Well, the Governor of New Mexico just did it. We need this amendment to become law,” he wrote in a Sept. 10 post on X.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley called the governor’s temporary gun ban a “flagrantly unconstitutional” act.

“It could also be a calculated effort to evade a ruling by making the period of suspension so short that it becomes moot before any final decision is reached by a court,” he wrote on his website.

“[The governor] could face a preliminary injunction in that time. However, if she gets a sympathetic trial judge, the time could run out before a final ruling can be secured on appeal. In any case, it makes it less likely that the case can be taken to the Supreme Court or even through the federal court system.”

Lawsuits Against the Order

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Ms. Grisham’s order. On Sept. 9, Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

The lawsuit (pdf) accuses defendants in the case, including Ms. Grisham and other state officials, of ordering the New Mexico state police to act as a “private army of stormtroopers” to enforce the “open and notorious subversion of constitutional rights.”

“There is no defense to Defendants’ actions—legal, moral, or otherwise. Their actions clearly and unambiguously violate the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to ‘bear arms’ that ‘shall not be infringed,' and deprive law-abiding gun owners of their only means of self-defense from criminal attack while in public,” the lawsuit stated.

The National Association for Gun Rights and Foster Haines, a member who lives in Albuquerque, filed a complaint against Ms. Grisham, asking the court to immediately block the implementation of the order.

The lawsuit pointed out that New Mexico has to justify that the prohibition on carrying firearms is consistent with the country’s historical tradition of gun regulation.

“But it is impossible for the State to meet this burden, because there is no such historical tradition of firearms regulation in this Nation,” the lawsuit stated.