Protect each other

There is so much to think about, grieve for and reflect on in recent events, including structural racism, health inequities, pandemic preparedness, police brutality and how to create a more just New Mexico, that it can be easy to overlook the significance of having heavily armed civilians in public spaces (“Man shot at Albuquerque demonstration over Oñate art piece,” June 15; “Former council candidate charged in protest shooting,” June 16). Specifically, the risk to all people present at protests and public gatherings could be decreased in the future by adopting commonsense legislation that restricts carrying firearms in public.

Many states have legislation that restricts the ability to carry a firearm in public without violating the Second Amendment. But even if New Mexico is not yet ready to take that step, requiring training and a permit to hold a firearm in public, requiring firearms in public to be unloaded and severely limiting locations where carrying firearms are still steps in the right direction — and should be implemented.

I practice medicine in Albuquerque

and previously did so in rural New Mexico, so I am sensitive to the fact people can have very different feelings about firearms. I am writing this armed with facts, but I also have feelings, too. As a physician who has taken care of countless patients affected by firearms violence, as a person whose own family has been repeatedly affected by firearms violence, and as the daughter, niece, cousin and goddaughter of police officers, I implore New Mexico to adopt legislative action to protect each other.

Dr. Eileen Barrett, M.P.H. Albuquerque