Temporary New Mexico Edict Starts Permanent Second Amendment Mayhem

Mexico

The controversial executive action decreed by New Mexico may be temporary but it’s sure to cause a whole bunch of permanent Second Amendment mayhem. On Friday, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham “suspended laws that allow open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days.” That came in the wake of declaring gun violence a public health emergency.

New Mexico defies Constitution

When New Mexico suspendedlaws that allow open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque,” Jonathan Turley explains, they issued an order which “in my view, is flagrantly unconstitutional under existing Second Amendment precedent.

Not only that, he notes, “it could also be a calculated effort to evade a ruling by making the period of suspension so short that it becomes moot before any final decision is reached by a court.” The problem, Professor Turley relates, is that it might not be so moot.

It’s true that the New Mexico city of Albuquerque has had a spike of “recent cases of gun-related violence in and around the city, including the killing of an 11-year-old boy dead and wounding of a woman in their vehicle in an apparent road rage incident after a baseball game.

The order cites that as justification for throwing the Constitution in the trash.

The Governor went in front of the press on September 8 to declare “as I said yesterday, the time for standard measures has passed. And when New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game—when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn—something is very wrong.” New Mexico wants to kill Lady Liberty to protect their kids. The problem is she’ll probably get away with the murder.

Democratic leaders have increasing turned to a claim used successfully during the pandemic in declaring a health emergency to maximize unilateral authority of governors. There have also been calls to declare racism a public health emergency, supported by groups like the American Public Health Association.

Expansion to other cities

While the “temporary” 30-day order is limited to Albuquerque, the text “allows for an expansion to other cities that meet the threshold for violent crime of 1,000 or more violent crimes per 100,00 residents have occurred per year since 2021. It also specifics a threshold of 90 firearms-related emergency room visits per 100,000 residents have occurred between July 2022 and June of this year.

So other cities in New Mexico could quietly be affected as well. As Constitutional Law Professor Turley informs “the taking away of individual rights as an emergency measure is hardly new. For centuries, governments have claimed that the suspension of individual rights is necessary for the good of citizens.

There’s something “striking” about the difference this time, “the short specified period.” That’s a really sneaky move. By setting a 30-day period, New Mexico “makes it difficult to secure a final decision.” Grisham faces a preliminary injunction but that’s iffy.

If “she gets a sympathetic trial judge, the time could run out before a final ruling can be secured on appeal. In any case, it make it less likely that the case can be taken to the Supreme Court or even through the federal court system.

It all boils down to a single question. “Challengers could argue that the matter is not moot when the order can be and is likely to be repeated in the future. That is always a challenging claim to make, but it is clearly true in this case. What is clear is that this is unambiguously and undeniably unconstitutional under existing precedent.” It’s illegal but they’re doing it anyway.

Exactly the same way Alejandro Mayorkas waved his magic wand and suddenly every invader listed on “parole” is here legally, thereby solving the “illegal immigration” problem once and for all. New Mexico’s Governor makes her own laws now, on the spur of the moment. “New Mexico could now prove the next big opportunity for gun rights advocates in tackling the public health rationale for gun control.

Related Posts