New Mexico Gov Fed Up, Banning Every Damn Gun She Sees
New Mexico Gov Fed Up, Banning Every Damn Gun She Sees
No, she’s not ‘suspending the Constitution.’
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a 30-day ban Friday on carrying firearms in public areas or state property in Albuquerque and all of Bernalillo County. Why is the Democratic governor such a party pooper? Well, New Mexico has experienced several recent shootings involving children. Just last Wednesday, an 11-year-old was shot in the head and his aunt critically injured as they were leaving a baseball game.
Overall, the state’s gun death rate has increased significantly over the past decade — a whopping 40 percent between 2014 to 2019. The firearm homicide rate increased 115 percent during the same period. The year-to-year firearm suicide rate has steadily increased, as well.
Now, gun-loving right-wingers might blame drag queens or bunnies or drag queen bunnies, but Grisham apparently thinks it’s the guns and has declared a public health emergency. IMPEACH! (No, really, New Mexico Republicans are already calling for her impeachment.)
Grisham’s executive order prohibits open and concealed firearms on state property, public schools or public parks. The only exceptions are for law enforcement and licensed security guards.
Licensed gun owners in New Mexico can still have weapons on private property. Anyone traveling with a death machine as their companion must transport it in a locked box or with a trigger lock. This is also good policy when traveling with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anyone who violates the order can be fined up to $5,000 even if Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis vouch for them.
This is very civilized gun policy — hardly the first step toward tyranny — but critics have denounced the order as unconstitutional. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the ban was “wrong,” presumably because he prefers guns have more freedom of movement in public than queer people.
But it’s not just Republicans, though.
Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu posted Saturday on Xitter: “I support gun safety laws. However, this order from the Governor of New Mexico violates the U.S. Constitution. No state in the union can suspend the federal Constitution. There is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”
David Hogg echoed Lieu’s wording. He said, “I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”
OK, disagree with the governor’s order but this specific framing concedes a major constitutional argument to the gun-obsessed. The reckless permitless carry laws are rooted in the far-right belief that the word “regulated” somehow doesn’t appear in the Second Amendment. Banning guns from public spaces, including Lieu’s own workplace and school grounds, aren’t unconstitutional. Republicans are normally the ones decrying “gun-free zones.”
Lieu (repeatedly) cited last year’s Supreme Court ruling, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, that found a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public places, overturning a century-old New York law that required a “proper cause” to carry a gun outside of the home.
It’s sadly pathetic that a Democrat would bash another Democrat with any “ruling” from this clown show Supreme Court. Three of the current justices were appointed by a former president who’s facing multiple felony counts for trying to overthrow the government. Another is a wholly corrupt billionaire plaything, and the fifth is just an asshole.
Not even the nicest anti-Trump Republican would accept as twisted gospel precedent-shredding rulings from a liberal court that was similarly tainted. Besides, does Lieu and Hogg really believe that New York and other reasonable states were “suspending” the Constitution until the Federalist Society stooges set everything right? Public carry is morally wrong and constitutionally stupid. Even the Wild West understood what “regulated” means.
I would perhaps tolerate the position that Grisham’s move isn’t practical long term. Gun rights groups are already suing her, and liberals don’t have reliable hack judges on the federal bench. It’s likely her order will get overturned before it even reaches the Supreme Court.
Still, I appreciate that she’s fighting for what’s ultimately right, not simply acceptable at congressional cocktail parties. If Lieu and other Democrats want to play by the rules of a rigged game, they should spend every waking moment desperately trying to pass sensible gun laws so more 11 year olds aren’t shot dead outside a baseball park.
Grisham is not the reliable social media snarker that Lieu is but she’s nonetheless taking a stand for her constituents.
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"Regulated" in the parlance of the 18th Century, meant "well stocked" or "well supplied", talking about a militia with adequate firepower to deter redcoats. Essentially the 2nd amendment makes for local armories of big weapons caches, and local "gun clubs" (militia), so that the newly formed US did not have to endure the preposterous budget-busting demands of the war hawks to stand up a national army (They held out for a while - all of the Revolutionary War was fought with militias and the Continental Army, which were soldiers from the various states, but still not a government organization. We did not have a standing army until some years after the adoption of the Constitution. In practical terms, creating a standing army made the 2nd Amendment moot, but assholes with tiny dicks still genuflect to it.
It had NOTHING to do with gun ownership by individuals.
This was so dumb. She really failed here. This isn't constitutional and accomplishes nothing