DA calls for action against gun violence
Torrez urges passage of laws to curb school shooter threats
In the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting and more than a dozen threats of violence against schools around the state that followed, Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez called on the Legislature to pass laws aimed at curbing school shooter threats and also proposed initiatives targeting the larger issue of gun violence in New Mexico.
“We must act and act now — the level of gun violence in this country, and in this community, is unacceptably high,” Torrez said during a news conference Friday afternoon. “Each of us … must come together and say with one voice: Enough is enough.”
Promising what he referred to as a “zero tolerance” from the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office with respect to school safety and gun violence, Torrez drafted a letter to the Legislature and governor for “immediate consideration” in giving law enforcement the proper tools to punish those responsible for making threats against a school.
The Legislature recently completed this year’s session and will not meet again until next January.
The district attorney called current statutes “outdated” in the age of social media, and while they address bomb threats, assaults and interference with the educational process, they do not include threats of gun violence and classify such crimes as a misdemeanor.
“The language itself needs to be clarified, and the penalties need to be strengthened,” Torrez said.
He added that current statutes are an insufficient deterrent and he hopes to see them reach the level of a felony, depending on the circumstances. “We need to make sure the penalty matches the crime and right now — it’s simply inadequate for what we’re dealing with.”
The state saw more than a dozen threats against schools in 11 different communities over the past week, and in December a former student walked into Aztec High School and gunned down two students before killing himself.
“The lives that have been lost in this state, and across the country, it’s not a joke to anyone and needs to be taken seriously,” Torrez said.
He added that tackling gun violence is a “top priority” of his administration, saying he has already directed prosecutors to seek pretrial detention of anyone charged with any felony while possessing a gun.
“Armed felons are the very definition of someone who does not belong on the streets of this community,” he said.
In light of newly allocated resources for his department during the past legislative session, Torrez said he is committing at least three more full-time gun prosecutors to refer any federally eligible case for potential prosecution in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“One of the things I think everyone needs to finally come to terms with is that there are people in society, either by virtue of prior criminal acts or mental instability, that should just not possess a firearm,” he said.
Torrez, a gun owner who has a concealed carry permit, outlined three “common sense” gun safety measures he is pushing for legislative action during the next session:
Supporting universal mandatory background checks nationwide.
Mandatory surrender of firearms for anyone convicted of domestic violence in New Mexico.
A “red flag law” allowing family members or intimate partners to request a civil court order to have guns removed from persons they deem dangerous.
Torrez said his goal is to “flag deficiencies” that contribute to gun violence in an attempt to “bring the law in line with where the community sentiment is.”
“There’s nothing to be done if this tragedy unfolds and we’re left to try and put the pieces back together,” he said. “The best thing we can do is try and intercept and prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place, and that requires all of us to get involved.”