The original public health order in September 2023 ignited a
furor of public protests, prompted Republican calls for the
governor’s impeachment and widened divisions among top
Democratic officials. It also sought to strengthen oversight of
firearms sales and monitor illicit drug use at public schools
through the testing of wastewater — before expiring on Saturday
without renewal.
“I have decided to allow the public health order to expire, but
our fight to protect New Mexico communities from the dangers
posed by guns and illegal drugs will continue," Lujan Grisham
said.
She described strides toward reducing gun violence through gun
buy-back programs, increased arrests, the distribution of free
gun-storage locks and a larger inmate population at a county
detention facility in Albuquerque.
The governor’s initial order would have suspended gun-carry
rights in most public places in the Albuquerque area, but was
scaled back to public parks and playgrounds with an exception to
ensure access to a municipal shooting range park. Lujan Grisham
said she was responding to a series of shootings around the
state that left children dead.
Gun rights advocates filed an array of lawsuits and court
motions aimed at blocking gun restrictions that they say would
deprive Albuquerque-area residents of 2nd Amendment rights to
carry in public for self-defense. The implications for pending
lawsuits in federal court were unclear.
The standoff was one of many in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme
Court decision expanding gun rights, as leaders in politically
liberal-leaning states explore new avenues for restrictions.
The gun restrictions were tied to a statistical threshold for
violent crime that applied only to Albuquerque and the
surrounding area.
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