Saturday, September 9, 2023

New Mexico's governor makes illegal executive order banning carrying of guns.

 

New Mexico Governor  Lujan Grisham. Fox News. 

New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham has issued an illegal executive order banning the legal carrying of guns in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County. Fox News. Saying that not only is the constitution not absolute she also said that her oath of office was also not absolute. The ban would issue civil fines for carrying weapons legally, either openly or concealed, regardless of their permit status. Legal experts challenged the order saying it was blatantly unconstitutional and was designed to be judgement proof as the 30 day expiration date would render any challenge moot. 


My Comment:

This is, without a doubt, the most unconstitutional thing that any governor has ever done in my lifetime. There is no legal or moral justification for this and it will not hold up under any judicial scrutiny whatsoever. It is the worst thing I have ever seen from our government and that is really saying a lot. 

The closest thing I can think of is during Hurricane Katrina where some people had their legally owned firearms confiscated during the disaster. That was made illegal afterwards by an act of congress and was of dubious legality during the time. But in that case there was an actual disaster. There is no such disaster in Albuquerque, just crime and a governor that refuses to deal with it. 

Albuquerque does have a very high murder rate but it certainly isn't people carrying their guns legally that are committing these crimes. Indeed, this order, if there was anyone foolish enough to actually follow it, would lead to making these people even more vulnerable to crime as they would not be able to defend themselves. The people that are committing these crimes are of a totally separate demographic. 

It is telling that the Democratic governor is so afraid of using tools that actually work, such as stop and frisk that she would rather punish the law abiding. Such efforts have been called racist but Terry stops have a long legal history and could be used to help find the people carrying weapons illegally. But instead she's going after people that have every right to carry guns. CCW is permitted but open carry is legal for anyone over the age of 19 in New Mexico. 

Bizarrely, the governor is using a public health order to enforce this and that is another strange argument from the Democrats when it comes to gun rights. High murder rates are very obviously a public order and criminal justice issue, not a public health issue and the theory should be laughed out of court. Even then, this goes beyond even what happened during the Coronavirus pandemic. I can't see any way that this is justified in the realm of public health

Indeed, this ruling flies in the face of the precedent set in NYSRAP v Bruen which ruled that people have a right to carry their weapons outside of the home and that any restrictions on the 2nd amendment have to have a historical precedent during the founding father's era. This executive order is a pretty obvious and intentional violation of that Supreme Court case. I can't see how it wouldn't be overturned when it eventually makes it to the court unless, of course, it is considered moot. 

The order seems like it would be unenforceable on its face. I really don't know the open carry culture of New Mexico but if it is anywhere near what it is in Wisconsin I doubt there would be many people open carrying in the first place, outside of a direct protest of this order. And in that case there is a real chance of violence if the cops are stupid enough to try and push the point. And it's laughable that they would even suggest you could ban CCW because the whole point in carrying a weapon concealed is that people don't know they will have it. 

The way I see it this has a few ways of going down. First, Governor Grisham backs down and revokes the executive order. or it gets overruled by the courts Given that everyone in the country, even a few gun control advocates, are saying that she can't legally do this that is a very real possibility. The condemnation I have seen on this seems almost universal and when you have lost David Hogg and Ted Lieu, of all people, you are in trouble with your base. 


 

Another option is that this order is kept in place but is simply not enforced. It's unclear who would be enforcing this order in the first place, from what I understand Albuquerque police have already said it won't be them, though the county Sherriff has said otherwise. I don't see most beat cops wanting anything to do with this and I think there is a good chance that everyone simply ignores the order. 

The other possibility is violence. Given the blatant illegality of the order and the fact that gun rights supporters are simply sick of such idiocy from our leadership, it's very possible that an incident could happen. Any cop that tries to enforce this with someone who is carrying to protest the law could end up dead and that's not an exaggeration, and their would be moral and legal justification for it. Given the blatant constitutional problems with the order, civilians have the justification to ignore it. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen but they say when you play with fire you can get burned. And this isn't just a fire it's an inferno. 

There is going to be action against this order and I believe there have been filings already to legally fight this ruling. People are also calling for the impeachment, resignation and/or arrest of Governor Grisham. I don't see any of those being that likely but it is certainly what should happen. At the very least I see this going to the courts and the courts ruling against her and hopefully they do it soon. Because the longer this order remains in place the more likely it will be that violence will happen because of it. 

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