It’s a key issue, but red flag law won’t fit in 30-day session

The last time our legislators considered a so-called red flag law, most sheriffs across New Mexico threatened not to enforce it, a majority of counties passed resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries in response to it and other gun control measures that included expanded background checks, and a radical secessionist sentiment was ignited in southeastern New Mexico among conservatives who felt their constitutional rights were being threatened by a more liberal Santa Fe.

There are sound reasons to support a red flag law and legitimate concerns about due process that must be addressed, but there’s also the not-so-small matter of adopting a budget in the 30-day session that begins Tuesday.

The governor’s proposed legislation, Senate Bill 5, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Joseph Cervantes and Reps. Damon Ely and Joy Garratt, would allow a law enforcement officer or family member to request an extreme-risk protection order with a sworn affidavit explaining why it’s needed. A judge would review the petition and determine if probable cause exists to issue a 15-day emergency order to seize weapons and ammunition. During those 15 days, the judge would set a hearing to decide if there is cause for a one-year order. When that expires, guns and ammo would be returned.

While the Journal editorial board does support extremerisk protection orders as an effort to save lives by temporarily removing firearms from those who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others, a 30-day short session is no time to take on a weighty topic that promises to once again suck up much of the energy in Santa Fe and sow further divisions across the state. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s call last week for state lawmakers to pass an extreme-risk protection order law was the right issue, at the wrong time.

Evidence of the divisiveness of the proposed law is already apparent. Warren Frost, Quay County attorney, submitted an op-ed to the Journal the day after Lujan Grisham’s news conference, calling on sheriffs to follow the red flag law, resign from office or face potential removal. Quay County Sheriff Russell Shafer was one of 29 New Mexico sheriffs — out of a total of 33 — who last year threatened not to enforce a red flag law.

So one day after the governor’s Las Cruces news conference, the divisions in Quay County were already apparent.

Tony Mace, sheriff of Cibola County and chairman of the New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association, told the Journal’s Angela Kocherga that the group will again oppose the proposed legislation as outlined. Mace said the confiscation of firearms from people who have not committed a crime would deny their constitutional right to bear arms.

Opposition to gun control laws last year from the association prompted Lujan Grisham to tweet that the “rogue sheriffs” were “throwing a childish pity party.” She later coordinated a conference call with county leaders to try to repair the rift.

Suffice it to say a red flag bill will not sail through the Legislature this year either, though Democrats control both chambers and occupy the Governor’s Office. After passing the House in a mostly party-line vote last year, House Bill 83 died in the Senate. A repeat of that lengthy and contentious debate is inevitable — deservedly so, and all but impossible to give it the attention it deserves in a short, budget-centric session. The red flag legislation belongs on lawmakers’ 2021 60-day session to-do list.