N.M. high court weighs gun lawsuit
Gov. Grisham’s public health ban challenged
SANTA FE, N.M. — Advocates for gun rights urged the New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday to block emergency orders by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham restricting people from carrying guns at public parks and playgrounds in the state’s largest metro area and address gun violence as a public health crisis.
The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday without issuing a ruling in a lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators, the National Rifle Association and several residents of the Albuquerque area that include retired law enforcement officers, former federal agents, licensed firearms instructors and a gun-shop owner.
The state’s legal standoff is one of many — from an Illinois ban on high-powered rifles to location-based restrictions in New York — since a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year expanded gun rights and as leaders in politically liberal-leaning states explore new avenues for restrictions. A California law was set to take effect Jan. 1 banning firearms in most public places, but a legal challenge has held up implementation.
Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, first invoked the orders in response to a spate of shootings that included the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium.
Supreme Court justices questioned attorneys for more than an hour as they weighed whether to rein in the governor’s use of emergency powers to restrict firearms.
“It seems to me that there are guardrails, so to speak. … You have to say the nature of the public health emergency,” Justice Michael E. Vigil, told an attorney for the governor. “Where is the statistical information showing that gun violence in public parks in Albuquerque and in Bernalillo County is a problem? There’s nothing in these declarations that show that.”
The high court adjourned without setting a deadline or a decision.
The petitioners say Lujan Grisham overstepped her authority as governor in violation of the Second Amendment and that gun violence and drug abuse don’t qualify as public health emergencies that can limit access to firearms even temporarily.
They accuse the governor of infringing on the Legislature’s authority and overriding gun regulations.
In defining what constitutes a public health emergency, the governor asserts that gun violence and drug abuse “comfortably fall within” the category because of extremely dangerous conditions posed by weapons and toxic chemical agents posing an imminent threat to many New Mexico residents.
The temporary orders don’t violate constitutional rights, she says.
Separately, a federal judge has allowed enforcement of the gun provision to continue while legal challenges run their course.