New Mexico Gov. Sued Over Gun-Related Emergency Order

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Facts

  • On Saturday, the National Association for Gun Rights, a gun-rights group, and group member Foster Haines filed suit to block New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order. The order suspended the right to publicly carry firearms in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County.1
  • Previously, Lujan Grisham on Friday issued a public health order restricting both open and concealed carrying of firearms in response, she said, to recent shootings in her state.2
  • Recently, an 11-year-boy was fatally shot on his way home from a baseball game, a 4-year-old girl was killed in her bed at a motor home, and a 13-year-old girl was also killed.2
  • The lawsuit, which lists the governor and New Mexico Dept. of Health Secretary Patrick Allen as defendants, accuses the governor’s order of violating the Second Amendment.3
  • Although the governor’s spokesperson said the order is related to a suspension of state law and not the Constitution, even some political allies — including Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and gun safety advocate David Hogg — voiced disagreement with Lujan Grisham’s order.4

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2Guardian, 3CNN and 4FOX News.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by American Thinker. Neither this order nor any restrictions on lawful gun possession will do anything to reduce crime. Yet here’s another Democrat deciding it’s better to dismiss the Constitution’s absolute right for law-abiding citizens to carry firearms rather than reconsidering their soft-on-crime policies, which are the reason for the nation’s crime wave. While the courts will again stop this left-leaning power grab, it’s about time Democrats stop trying these types of unconstitutional actions.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Washington post. Something has to be done to slow the gun violence epidemic in the US. Even if a government action is eventually deemed unconstitutional by the courts, it’s worth instituting temporary measures and drawing attention to the issue through litigation. Republicans should offer solutions to the gun violence problem rather than just insisting everyone be allowed to carry an unlimited number of guns.

Predictions