New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the end of an emergency public health order that banned the carrying of guns in public parks and playgrounds around the Albuquerque metropolitan area.
“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.
In September 2023, Gov. Lujan Grisham issued an emergency public health order that effectively suspended the Second Amendment for American citizens who lived in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area. She claimed that a “public health crisis” gave her the authority to suspend New Mexicans’ Second Amendment-protected rights. Her order made it impossible for them to exercise their right to bear arms in public areas around the Albuquerque metropolitan region. The order flew in the face of the Supreme Court precedent set in the Bruen opinion.
The Bruen opinion eliminated interest balancing, weighing the rights of the people against the wants of the state. This is the only possible defense the Governor could have used in court. Some believe that the order was Lujan Grisham thumbing her nose at SCOTUS.
The order went so far that even anti-gun extremist David Hogg called her out on violating the Constitution. In the days following the order, almost every pro-gun group in the country sued the Governor, and Republicans nationwide called for Lujan Grisham to resign. Even some Democrat politicians thought that Lujan Grisham went too far. The Governor would defend the order in court, arguing that a “public health crisis” allows her to suspend constitutionally protected rights.
Many in New Mexico viewed the order as discriminatory and said that the law affected those who most need a firearm for protection since crime in Albuquerque has exploded. Gun rights advocates point out that the only people who obey gun laws are law-abiding citizens. They argue that criminals would still be armed and that the emergency public health order just made those law-abiding citizens soft targets.
Gov. Lujan Grisham is one of the shining stars of the anti-gun movement. She has the backing of all anti-gun extremist organizations such as Moms Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, and Brady. These groups celebrated when the Governor originally announced the emergency public health order.
The court hearings went as most legal scholars believe they would. The judge was perplexed about how the Governor came up with the idea that she had the power to suspend a constitutionally protected right. The court would strike down most of the provisions in the emergency public health order, but the ban on carrying in public parks and playgrounds would survive the legal challenges. Gov. Lujan Grisham would give up trying to save the rest of the order.
Now, a year later, the Governor is letting the rest of the order expire, meaning that New Mexicans in the Albuquerque area is once again free to protect themselves and their families with firearms in public parks and playgrounds. The order’s expiration restores their rights to the same level as those of other citizens in the state who do not live in the Albuquerque area.
Some believe that the New Mexico emergency public health order was an anti-gun Democrat testing the water for an anti-gun public health order, but there is no solid evidence to back up that claim.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
