Pearce supports concealed carry on campuses
Democratic members of congressional delegation again urge gun control
Republican U.S. Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce says he supports allowing the concealed carry of firearms on school campuses.
Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, once given high marks by the National Rifle Association, says he would support a new ban on so-called assault weapons.
Renewed debate over gun control in the week since a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida has not only exposed anew the fissures between red states and blue states but also a rift that runs right through New Mexico — a rural, purple state where hunting and shooting are part of a deeply rooted culture.
New Mexico’s representatives in Congress, where proponents of gun control are now looking for action, have offered starkly divergent responses and perhaps some sort of answer to the question of whether this latest shooting will be different.
Pearce, New Mexico’s lone Republican on Capitol Hill, contends broad restrictions on access to firearms are not necessarily going to prevent violence and has instead suggested improving security at schools, specifically by providing a metal detector for every campus.
Meanwhile, Democrats have renewed pleas they have made repeatedly in the past for gun control measures — what they call “commonsense” legislation — such as expanding background checks, banning high-capacity magazines and ending a ban on gun-related research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Heinrich, up for re-election this year, has sought to distance himself from the endorsement he earned from the NRA when running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and announced Friday he will work to ban high-power firearms that have gained infamy through mass shootings.
“I’m fully willing to say I don’t need an AR-15. I don’t think anybody needs an AR-15 more than we need safety in our schools,” Heinrich told The New Mexican, referring to a type of semi-automatic rifle similar in style to the gun used in Parkland, Fla.
Heinrich has opposed bans on so-called assault weapons in the past, signing on to a letter in 2009 calling a previous ban “ineffective” and arguing against reinstating the policy.
One criticism of such bans has been the definition of “assault weapons” — a label some argue can be applied too broadly.
On Friday, Heinrich said that some previous measures had been poorly drafted, pointing to one bill that would have swept up rifles more commonly used in hunting.
“I intend to support getting rid of assault rifles. … I want to make sure what we do is effective, isn’t full of loopholes, isn’t cosmetic,” he said.
The legislation is still in the works and the details still up for discussion.
Heinrich acknowledged it will be difficult to get support on Capitol Hill, which has lurched from one crisis to another.
But for Heinrich, who has supported several gun control measures, such as expanding background checks, since his election to the Senate in 2012, the pronouncement marks something of a shift in the politics of gun control in New Mexico.
The senator has cultivated an image as an outdoorsman who owns guns, takes his kids hunting and was once an NRA member.
It was apparently an untenable balance.
“There was a time when the NRA was largely focused on hunters and typical gun owners. I think over time they have gotten more shrill, more paranoid — in some cases, outright racial,” he said Friday.
Heinrich said he stopped paying his dues to the organization and threw away his membership card.
Is it a sign advocates for gun rights are changing their views or a sign of growing division — a sign perhaps that the “pro-gun Democrat” might soon be a thing of the past at a time when many in the party’s base are ramping up pressure for lawmakers to renounce the NRA and take sweeping action on firearms?
Heinrich contends the NRA has changed and he has, too.
“I think New Mexicans are shifting their views on guns. I mean, I am,” he said. “How many times can we do this?”
In the wake of the Parkland shooting, New Mexico’s other senator, Democrat Tom Udall, called for Republicans to “move beyond the extreme positions of gun lobby SuperPACs and special interests” and expand federal background checks as well as embrace other gun control measures.
U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham, both Democrats, have supported a ban on high-capacity magazines and bump stocks — accessories that allow a semi-automatic weapon to mimic the higher-powered firearms.
Lujan Grisham, a candidate for governor who has also backed banning so-called assault weapons, said she would support prohibiting anyone convicted of domestic violence and stalking misdemeanors from purchasing a firearm.
“New Mexico needs a governor who understands these issues, will work to keep educators and kids safe, and engage with the legislature, law enforcement, and state agencies to work to end gun violence,” she said in a statement, using a term often eschewed by advocates for gun rights.
Still, many Democrats in the state Legislature are wary of gun control.
And Pearce, the only GOP candidate for governor, is dismissive of many proposals to restrict access to firearms.
“To say we’re going to solve the problem with gun control is, in my mind, incorrect by a long shot,” Pearce said in an interview on Thursday.
The congressman referred to the shooting in June of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise at a park where they had been playing baseball.
Pearce was not injured, but Scalise was severely wounded. Pearce — who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon — bemoaned tight restrictions on firearms in Washington, D.C., arguing an armed bystander could have ended the shooting sooner.
The congressman argued for more armed security at schools and also said he would allow the concealed carry of firearms on campuses.
“I would allow concealed carry in the schools. I don’t think that a lot of teachers would do it and it would not be mandatory, but if one of those coaches had had a weapon,” he said, referring to the shooting in Florida, “I think it could have been completely different.”
That would likely require a change in state law.
It is currently a crime in New Mexico to take a firearm to a public school.
Pearce also said that he has directed staff to work on legislation that would provide federal funding for metal detectors at every school.
“I believe the gun debate can be separated from safety in the schools,” he said. “I believe we all agree that safety in the schools should move forward.”