Anti-Gun Activists to New Mexico Gov: Lady, You Can't Do That

When some of the most vocal anti-gun activists call out New Mexico’s governor for going off the reservation over her recent order attacking Second Amendment rights, you know it’s unhinged. It’s also illegal. In the wake of a series of shootings in Albuquerque, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham banned open and concealed carry for 30 days, using public health orders to enforce the ordinance (via AP):

New Mexico governor declares gun violence a public health emergency https://t.co/FH09tdkbuf
— KOAT.com (@koat7news) September 8, 2023

The Democratic governor said she is expecting legal challenges but felt compelled to act in response to gun deaths, including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week.
The firearms suspension is tied to a threshold for violent crime rates that only the Albuquerque area currently meets. Police are exempt from the temporary ban on carrying firearms.
Lujan Grisham said the restrictions “are going to pose incredible challenges for me as a governor and as a state.”
“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” she said at a news conference, flanked by leading law enforcement officials, including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area.

Not that it needs to be said, but her legal reasoning is a shambles. I hope the many pro-Second Amendment advocacy groups nationwide are speaking with lawyers to challenge this unconstitutional order, as the landmark Bruen decision already addressed similar anti-gun pushes–you can't enact them.

Dear New Mexico Law Enforcement:@GovMLG issued a blatantly unconstitutional decree infringing our God-given rights to keep and bear arms.

You could face significant federal criminal and civil liability, if you enforce her illegal order.

"Just following orders" won't save you. https://t.co/rnWIz2F70a pic.twitter.com/dijRcvTgEi
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) September 9, 2023

When David Hogg and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), some of the most active gun control folks out there, are telling Grisham to slow her roll while also calling her out for making up legal statutes, it's a pretty good sign that this order doesn’t have much of a chance to be upheld in court. You can’t just do whatever you want, Michelle. We fought a pivotal war when a king from a particular English-speaking Island nation tried to do the same here in the 18^th century.

I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution. https://t.co/6GfbOZLc7g
— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) September 9, 2023

I support gun safety laws. However, this order from the Governor of New Mexico violates the U.S. Constitution. No state in the union can suspend the federal Constitution. There is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution. https://t.co/kOhLMtaOl2
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 9, 2023