Involve gun owners in new legislation

The Journal editorial board has lavished praise over the gun control bills introduced in the Legislature, saying, for example, that the background check bill would dissuade someone from buying a gun from “… some sketchy character in a parking lot in response to an ad on the internet … .” Indeed, if that is what was intended, I think the Journal would find overwhelming support from gun owners.

But that’s not what the bill would do. The law, if passed, would be hard to enforce and would not only preclude buying a gun from that sketchy character, but also would preclude, without a timeconsuming and expensive background check, the sale of a gun between trusted friends and neighbors of long standing or, for that matter, between holders of a New Mexico Concealed Carry permit, who are vetted in a far more painstaking manner than a simple federal background check. The bill, to put it mildly, overreaches and treats all gun owners as loose cannons.

Other proposed legislation, as you suggest, often follows a similar pattern.

I think I speak for a lot of gun owners who wish our legislators would consult us when writing these bills. Instead, we are usually shut out of the loop as bills are written by anti-gun lobbyists or those not familiar with gun culture. Until that process changes, it will be hard to get buy-in from gun owners.

In my view, that is a critical flaw in the process: convincing gun owners to buy into these safeguards, not sell to some shady character in a parking lot and gain trust that these laws are not ideological clubs over our heads, but are truly intended for the common good. KHALIL SPENCER SANTA FE