NM gov. plans to ban firearms in public spaces in Bernalillo County, state property

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she will enact a monthlong ban on carrying firearms — concealed or openly — in any public space in Bernalillo County and any state property in New Mexico.

The ban, which Lujan Grisham acknowledged would most likely face legal challenges and was meant to push for change, was one part of a sweeping executive order announced Thursday and enacted Friday.

“The purpose is to try to create a cooling off period while we figure out how we can better address public safety and gun violence,” she said during a news conference at the State Capitol on Friday.

The executive order also included monthly inspections of licensed gun dealers for violations, testing wastewater at schools for drugs like fentanyl, allowing police to book juveniles into jail without social services’ permission and sending New Mexico State Police officers to help fight crime in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.

Lujan Grisham said the order would expire in 30 days but she would, amend, renew or adjust it depending on “where we are” in a month. The current order also sets aside $750,000 in emergency funds to protect public safety.

On Thursday, Lujan Grisham declared gun violence a public health emergency, less than 24 hours after 11-year-old Froylan Villegas was killed in a road-rage shooting in Albuquerque. As his family left an Isotopes baseball game Wednesday night, a person shot at the vehicle 17 times, killing the boy and injuring his aunt.

In Lujan Grisham’s declaration, she also referenced the death of Galilea Samaniego, a 5-year-old girl who was killed while sleeping in a trailer in Southwest Albuquerque that was targeted in a drive-by shooting last month.

Although Lujan Grisham acknowledged that homicides in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque, in general, are down from last year — which hit a record high — she said more needs to be done.

“No one right now in New Mexico, particularly in Albuquerque, is safe at a movie theater, at a park, at a school, at a grocery store, at an Isotopes game,” Lujan Grisham said Friday. “You just aren’t safe. I can’t guarantee it and neither can the men and the women who put on a uniform every day.”

She acknowledged the ban was “a sacrifice” for responsible gun owners, adding “responsible gun owners are certainly not our problem (and) have never been our problem.”

She said not all law enforcement leaders in Bernalillo County and across the state agreed with the gun ban, but that State Police officers dispatched to the area would enforce it.

“The point here is that if everyone (followed the order), and I wasn’t legally challenged, you would have fewer risks on the street,” she said. “And I could safely say to every New Mexican, and particularly those folks living in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, I believe that you’re safer for the next 30 days. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said they would not be enforcing the order and there were concerns that doing so could violate the department’s police reform settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. And in a statement, Sheriff John Allen said he had “reservations regarding this order.”

“While I understand and appreciate the urgency, the temporary ban challenges the foundation of our Constitution, which I swore an oath to uphold,” Allen said.

The restriction is tied to a threshold for violent crime rates currently only met by the Albuquerque area. Police and licensed security guards are exempt from the temporary ban.

Violators could face civil penalties and a fine of up to $5,000, gubernatorial spokeswoman Caroline Sweeney said.

Under the order, residents still can transport guns to some private locations, such as a gun range or gun store, provided the firearm has a trigger lock or some other container or mechanism making it impossible to discharge.

Critics and supporters were quick to respond to Lujan Grisham’s gun ban.

Anthony Segura, the executive director of New Mexico Shooting Sports Association — the official state association for the National Rifle Association — questioned the legality of the governor’s move. He said the association was in contact with the national chapter of the NRA and is “actively looking at litigation.”

“We’re not going to take this lying down,” Segura said.

Miranda Viscoli, the co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, said the announcement came as a shock.

“We really appreciate her courage to actually try to do something,” Viscoli said. “Gun violence is a huge problem in Albuquerque and in our state right now; we hear gunshots constantly where we are right now.”

She said the success of the executive order could depend on how the state gets the word out.

“If this moves the needle to where we’re actually doing something about gun violence prevention, then that’s what we need to do,” Viscoli said. “We’ll find out in 30 days — if it works, if it doesn’t, what else can we do. But we can’t stay the way we’re staying — it’s not sustainable.”

Lujan Grisham announced that former State Police Chief Pete Kassetas would lead the charge as her Crime Reduction Director.

As for what that job entailed, details were slim; a spokeswoman said that Kassetas “would guide our immediate efforts in Bernalillo County.”

Lujan Grisham said part of those immediate efforts would be sending a “significant” number of State Police officers to help authorities fight crime and arrest wanted individuals in Bernalillo County, but she would not put a number on how many officers would be sent.

Lujan Grisham did something similar, known as the Metro Surge Operation, in 2019 after University of New Mexico baseball player Jackson Weller was fatally shot in Albuquerque. That operation came under scrutiny after many of the prosecutions fell apart when the officers, who came from all over the state, didn’t show up to hearings because they had gone back home.

On Friday, Lujan Grisham addressed those issues.

“Unlike the surge, which worked, it wasn’t sustained. And the initial surge didn’t have all of the operational impacts that it needed — lessons learned,” she said. “We’re going to have to make sure that our resources are aligned, including prosecutorial resources, so that we don’t let bad actors off the hook because we don’t have the right people in the right place with the right information to pursue a prosecution.”

Medina, Albuquerque’s police chief, emphasized the need to keep people charged in certain crimes in jail until trial but also to provide resources to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where 26 people have died since 2020 from a variety of causes, many of them health-related.

Allen said, “it’s time for tough love.”

“We cannot force people into treatment. But we are telling you, ‘If you’re committing a crime in Bernalillo County, and we catch you, we’re going to force you to get treatment through the criminal justice system,’” he said. “We just talked to the MDC chief to make sure that they’re ready. We have to do something now. We can’t sit here and have debates. We can’t wait for the 30-day (legislative) session in January. While we do that, people are dying in the process.”

The executive order also includes having the state Department of Health compile a comprehensive report on those showing up to hospitals with gunshot wounds, including demographics, health care outcomes, weapon type, circumstances and the general toll of gun violence on the state’s health care system.

At the end of the 30 days, she said they will assess the data and decide on whether to remove the order, but she said “(I) bet it’s not over in 30 days.”

“And I’m sure some things will work better than others, and I’m sure things will get adjusted, and I’m sure I’ll get restrictions that make it clear what it can and cannot do,” she said. “And we keep fighting until every child, every family, every neighbor, every community, every city, every village is the safest it can possibly be in the state of New Mexico.”