Coming To a State Near You (3)  by Tom Reynolds

On Tuesday, SCOPE wrote about New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham issuing an Emergency Health Order suspending concealed and open carry of guns in New Mexico.

The idiocy of Grisham’s order was aptly set out by state New Mexico State Senator Greg Baca who said: “A child is murdered, the perpetrator is still on the loose, and what does the governor do? She … targets law-abiding citizens with an unconstitutional gun order.”

And then there are reservations by law enforcement, voiced by Bernalillo County sheriff, John Allen, who said: “…the temporary ban challenges the foundation of our constitution, which I swore an oath to uphold…I am wary of placing my deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts, as well as the potential risks posed by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self-defense.”

Even some national Democrats expressed concern at the scope of the order. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California posted on X: “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.”

The legal pushback was immediate.  At least four lawsuits, two of which seek immediate injunctive relief, have been filed. (It’s possible more have been filed and are not yet publicly available.)

·       National Association For Gun Rights

·       We The Patriots

·       Randy Donk, Gun Owners of America

·       Shawn Blas

As SCOPE pointed out on Tuesday, the 30 day length of this order may cause the issue to be declared ‘moot’ by the courts before an decision is made.  However, it will be interesting to see if any liberal judge is willing to rule for Grisham in a case where her actions are so clearly unconstitutional.

The National Association for Gun Rights’ lawsuit summarized the legal situation well, that the orders violate the Second Amendment:

“The State must justify the Carry Prohibition by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. But it is impossible for the State to meet this burden, because there is no such historical tradition of firearms regulation in this Nation.”

A second lawsuit by Bernalillo County resident Randy Donk and the Gun Owners of America likens the executive order and public health emergency declaration to “martial law” and argues that it is a suspension of constitutional rights.

Does Grisham care about any of the constitutional aspects of her order or the possible repercussions?  Not likely.

The Guardian reports that New Mexico state representatives Stefani Lord and John Block are calling for the impeachment of Governor Grisham for issuing the ‘emergency’ order.  “This is an abhorrent attempt at imposing a radical, progressive agenda on an unwilling populace. Rather than addressing crime at its core, Governor Grisham is restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” the statement from Lord read.

New Mexico’s legislature is almost two-thirds Democrat so there is little danger of the impeachment succeeding.

As SCOPE has often pointed out, Grisham gets her leftist credentials punched at no cost to her.  The state uses the taxpayers’ deep pockets to defend the order while those opposing it will have to self-finance.

And those on the Left (especially governors in other blue states like Kathy Hochul) will view this as a test case to see how far they can push their attacks on the 2nd Amendment.