Sheriff withdraws budget request for new AR-15 rifles
Mendoza cites new climate after George Floyd’s death; existing weapons remain
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza on Tuesday withdrew what was quickly becoming a controversial budget request to purchase replacement AR-15 rifles for his deputies.
In explaining his decision to the County Commission, Mendoza cited the “current climate” across the nation following the highly publicized death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police last month.
The fatal encounter, which has sparked protests and calls for reform, has become a flashpoint for tensions between law enforcement and minorities after video of the incident showed a veteran police officer putting his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck as he cried that he couldn’t breathe.
“First of all … I want to make it clear that we condemn and we denounce the incident that happened in Minneapolis,” Mendoza said. “I’m actually glad that these officers are being held accountable for what they’ve done in reference to Mr. Floyd.”
Mendoza said “many community members” had reached out to commissioners and that he talked to a handful who called his office expressing concerns about the proposed purchase of 15 AR-15 rifles to replace those currently in the sheriff ’s arsenal, some of which are up to 10 years old.
“We thought that this would be a good opportunity for us to assess what the priority is for replacing these weapons, even though I have my own opinions in reference to whether or not we as a sheriff ’s office should utilize them as a tool and why we need them, which may be another conversation for why I think we need these types of weapons to protect our deputies and the citizens at large,” he told commissioners.
In a telephone interview afterward, Mendoza said it’s more of a professional opinion than a personal view. He said AR-15 rifles and others like them can be purchased by members of the public and that he doesn’t want to be “outgunned by criminals.”
“As long as those are readily available and out in the in the public platform, there will be people that use these weapons with the intent to do harm,”
he said. “And as long as that threat or that chance of them doing that exists, we have to be prepared to respond.”
Mendoza emphasized the decision to pull the budget request “is not going to impact our ability to respond or public safety.”
Juan Ríos, a spokesman for the sheriff ’s office, said the existing AR-15 rifles will remain in the sheriff ’s arsenal and be used as needed.
While the sheriff withdrew his $8,000 budget request for replacement rifles, he said he still would be asking for money to purchase 33 replacement Tasers, which he called a “lessthan-lethal option for our deputies,” and 15 helmet cameras for his SWAT team members.
“I think it’s a good tool for accountability,” he told the commission, referring to the cameras.
Commissioner Anna Hansen, who told the sheriff she appreciated his decision to withdraw his budget request for AR-15 rifles, said she and Commissioner Ed Moreno have been working on a resolution with Mendoza pertaining to his office’s policies and procedures.
“We are working to get out in front of it and talk about this situation with the community and bring forward ideas that we can talk about, especially seeing all the information and the misinformation that has been put out there,” she said. “I think it is important for us to be proactive and work on situations together.”