Legal fight mounts after Lujan Grisham suspends the right to carry guns in public

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public in and around Albuquerque will spur a legal fight but might also raise public awareness about gun violence, legal scholars and advocates said.

“It’s going to be challenged. But she’s trying to move the debate,” Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount’s Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said after Lujan Grisham announced Friday that she was temporarily suspending the right to carry firearms in the state’s largest city and surrounding Bernalillo County.

Indeed, the first challenge surfaced Saturday afternoon in a federal lawsuit filed by Albuquerque resident Foster Allen Haines in conjunction with the National Association for Gun Rights, or NAGR, claiming that Lujan Grisham’s order is unconstitutional and seeking damages.

“Nothing else to say really, just that the NAGR and Mr. Haines represent thousands of New Mexicans that are not going to put up with tyranny,” Timothy White, the attorney who filed the suit, told the Journal.

Both New Mexico Senate and House Republicans on Saturday vowed to file lawsuits of their own challenging the order.

And two Albuquerque-area representatives in the Legislature by Saturday evening were calling for Lujan Grisham’s impeachment.

One of those representatives, Stefani Lord of Sandia Park, announced a rally in support of the Second Amendment on Sunday in Old Town.

The 30-day firearm suspension, enacted as an emergency public health measure, applies in most public places, from city sidewalks to urban recreational parks.

“No person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm … either openly or concealed,” the governor’s order states.

“Politically, a lot of people will react favorably,” Levinson predicted during a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “But she’s bumping up against the Second Amendment, no doubt about it. And we have a very conservative Supreme Court that is poised to expand Second Amendment rights.”

Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, applauded the governor’s order.

“If it makes it so that people think twice about using a gun to solve a personal dispute, it makes them think twice that they don’t want to go to jail,” Viscoli said, “then it will work.”

The governor, a Democrat, said she was was compelled to act following recent shootings including the death last week of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium and gunfire last month that killed a 5-year-old girl who was asleep in a mobile home. The governor also cited the shooting death in August of a 13-year-old girl in Taos County.

“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” Lujan Grisham said during a news conference at which she was flanked by law enforcement officials.

Lujan Grisham said State Police would be responsible for enforcing what amount to civil violations carrying a fine of up to $5,000. Residents still can transport guns to private locations like a gun range or gun store if the firearm is in a container or has a trigger lock or mechanism making it impossible to discharge.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who once served as a Democratic party leader and was appointed by Lujan Grisham, on Saturday joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Harold Medina saying they wouldn’t enforce the order.

“As an officer of the court, I cannot and will not enforce something that is clearly unconstitutional,” Bregman said. “This office will continue to focus on criminals of any age that use guns in the commission of a crime.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he was uneasy about how gun owners might respond.

“I am wary of placing my deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts,” Allen said, “as well as the potential risks posed by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self-defense.”

Medina noted that Albuquerque police had made more than 200 arrests of murder suspects in the last two years.

“We know all too well what it means that an 11-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl were tragically killed by indiscriminate gun violence,” the police chief said. “We share in the pain.”

APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos noted that enforcing the order also could put Albuquerque police in a difficult position with a U.S. Department of Justice police reform settlement.

Lujan Grisham’s order calls for monthly inspections of firearms dealers statewide to ensure compliance with gun laws and for the state Department of Health to compile a report on gunshot victims at hospitals that includes age, race, gender and ethnicity, along with the brand and caliber of firearm involved.

Levinson said she was not aware of any other governor taking a step as restrictive as Lujan Grisham. But she pointed to a proposal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, to amend the U.S. Constitution to harden federal gun laws.

“I don’t think it will be a political loss for (Lujan Grisham) to be overturned,” Levinson said. “She can say she did everything she could but was stopped by the courts.”

Jacob Charles, a law professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the Second Amendment, noted that the Supreme Court, in the June 2022 Bruen case, expanded the right of law-abiding Americans to carry guns in public for self-defense.

He said that ruling takes away the ability to take into account arguments about a compelling government interest, like the gun violence that Lujan Grisham said prompted her order. Now, judges must solely rely on whether any similar historical examples exist.

“They can’t assess whether or not this is going to reduce gun violence. They can’t assess whether or not there are other alternatives that government could have done,” Charles said. He later added, “What it means is that contemporary costs and benefits aren’t part of the analysis.”

Outrage, applause in Bernalillo County

Leaders where the ban took effect and those who’ve had to defend themselves in a life-or-death situation expressed differing perspectives on Lujan Grisham’s move.

Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, a Democrat, called the action “a wake up call.”

“We’ve got to do something and I applaud her for doing it, for challenging somebody to take this to court and start the conversation,” he said. “If nothing else, at least, it pushes forward the conversation.”

Davis said he is “incredibly frustrated” that the city has no authority when it comes to guns, pointing out that they’ve tried, and failed, to ban them at City Council meetings.

“At the moment, the only tools the state’s given us are to be reactionary after someone commits a crime with a gun, and we’d like to be proactive,” he said.

Davis added, “I don’t think the bad guys are going to pay any more attention to the governor’s public health order than they do to the laws regarding felons with guns. But it is getting more attention on what tools need to be in the toolbox so that this isn’t the only option on the table.”

When asked if he felt his rights were being violated, Davis, a former police officer and gun owner with a concealed carry permit, said “Nope, not one bit.”

On the other side of the aisle, Bernallillo County Commissioner Walt Benson said Lujan Grisham is punishing law-abiding citizens instead of pursuing violent criminals “with vigor.”

He called the order “an overreach against the wrong population.”

“The people with concealed carry, they’re not the problem out there. They’re the sheepdogs that are out there, those are the people that you do trust,” Benson said. “It’s the criminals with illegal guns and no respect for life. And no respect for laws. They’re the ones that you have to worry about.”

Benson said he owns guns but doesn’t carry them around. “I don’t feel the need to,” he said, but added, “If I was in the wrong neighborhood, I might.”

Chuck de Caro, a former CNN journalist who nearly died in a 2015 gunfight at an Albuquerque motel during an attempted robbery, said had the ban been enforced then he and his wife Lynn Russell “would be dead.”

He called the order “the dumbest thing we’ve ever heard” and a very serious issue to both he and Russell, also a former CNN journalist.

“When you can hear your own blood splattering on the floor, you know, and you start the blackout? You suddenly take self-defense really seriously,” de Caro said, recalling the gunfight in which he was shot three times and returned fire and killed a man. “… It’s one thing to argue on the fine points of policy. But when it comes down to lead going back and forth in a hotel room and it’s life or death, and the next second you may no longer be alive, this becomes a very personal issue.”

Russell said, as a woman, she was “embarrassed” by Lujan Grisham’s move.

“I am blown away that the governor of the state of New Mexico would place women in a position in which they cannot defend themselves, or their families. They can’t defend their kids. They can’t defend other people…. I’m astonished,” she said.

De Caro added, “This is just so silly, so stupid, so thoughtless, that it begs the question: ‘What is that woman thinking?’”

By Saturday afternoon, state Republican Reps. Stefani Lord of Sandia Park and John Block of Alamogordo called for Lujan Grisham’s impeachment, saying her order violates constitutional rights and is “illegal in nature.”

“This is an abhorrent attempt at imposing a radical, progressive agenda on an unwilling populous,” Lord said in a statement. “… I have a newsflash for the Governor: The Second Amendment is an absolute right, and so is my authority to impeach you for violating your oath to New Mexico and the United States.”

People across U.S. sound off on gun ban

“Gun violence is a public health crisis — an epidemic. Thank you @GovMLG for fighting to save the lives of all of your citizens, but especially your children! The constant heartbreak, tragedy, trauma and decimation of families must stop.”

— Arne Duncan, former Chicago mayor and U.S. Secretary of Education, said on X, formerly known as Twitter

“I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”

— David Hogg, Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor, on X

“If you are in New Mexico and need a holster so you can carry all throughout this tyrannical act, hit us up and we’ll get you 25% off.”

— FDO Industries, a Kentucky gun holster maker, on X

“We cannot have political grandstanding, reckless and unconstitutional ‘emergency health orders’ being issued that do nothing to criminals, but instead take aim at law abiding citizens. Stripping gun rights of law-abiding citizens does not decrease crime rates. In fact, it leaves law abiding citizens more vulnerable and helpless against those who commit violent crimes.”

— Former Gov. Susana Martinez, on X

“Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico understood she’d receive criticism and legal challenges to her order of suspending open, concealed carry of guns, but she did it anyway. Respect.”

— Life is Safer With Fewer Guns, on X

“Announcement: Until further notice we will be offering free shipping to ALL New Mexico customers. Simply select the ‘(expletive), Gov. Grisham” option at checkout. Thank you for your attention.”

— Fenix Ammunition, a Michigan ammunition supplier, on X

“At risk of stating what should be obvious, deliberately violating the Constitution is next-level illegal. How soon can this person be removed from office?”

— Elon Musk, who also expressed support for Lujan Grisham’s arrest, on X

“Impeach and remove Lujan Grisham. We even have Elon behind us on this! “

— N.M. state Rep. John Block of Alamogordo, on X