We must always remain vigilant on Second Amendment issues because we know what the Left’s end game is for this constitutional right. They revealed their playbook on this matter years ago. At the state level, they managed to clinch some legislative wins, notably in Florida and Vermont, both of which had Republican governors. The school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 provided the anti-gun Left with the political juice to pass new laws, specifically increasing the age limit for purchasing long guns.
At the federal level, Republicans, for the most part, have been able to ward off Democratic Party attempts to curb gun rights. It’s why no new laws ever got off the ground post-Sandy Hook, which provided the gun control movement with its best opportunity to pass new legislation. Instead, it died on the vine, with Obama wasting the precious time of his second term on this matter.
But just because the anti-gun Left serially fails in their attempts to shred the Constitution doesn’t mean they stop trying. It’s 2023, and the governor of New Mexico just banned open and concealed carry in Albuquerque under the guise of a public health order (via Associated Press):
After suspending the right to carry firearms, New Mexico’s Governor just said her duty to uphold her oath to the constitution is "not absolute" pic.twitter.com/wY3xSwIUIs
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) September 9, 2023
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency public health order that suspends the open and permitted concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days in the midst of a spate of gun violence.
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.
New Mexico governor declares gun violence a public health emergency https://t.co/FH09tdkbuf
— KOAT.com (@koat7news) September 8, 2023
Over at Bearing Arms, Tom Knighton noted how the Supreme Court already ruled that the governor doesn't have the authority to enact such an ordinance. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this order is heinous government overreach and 100 percent illegal:
When the Bruen decision came out, one of the things it specifically said was that you couldn’t declare an entire city as a gun-free zone. You could declare certain sensitive areas as gun-free, but not the whole community.
[…]
…it’s insane to act like law-abiding citizens are the reason for the problems in Albuquerque. What’s more, I think Grisham knows it. She doesn’t actually care. She just wants to be seen doing something and since the people who lawfully carry usually weren’t going to vote for her anyway, screw them, right?
Grisham says she expects a fight on this one and she’s damn well going to get it.
This is absolutely insane and won’t produce the results she’s hoping for. At best, it’ll do nothing. However, when criminals figure out that the good guys with guns aren’t around unless they have a badge, they’re going to step up whatever they typically do knowing that most folks are going to be disarmed.
At least until a federal court puts the kibosh on this one, and I don’t think she’s going to win it even with declaring it a public health emergency.
Keep an eye on this, folks. The Left may be testing a new way to strip law-abiding Americans of their rights by weaponizing health order ordinances. Blue states and other municipalities will undoubtedly take this for a spin.