One Dem lawmaker comes out against Lujan Grisham gun order, others say it's meant to start conversation

Sep. 11—A leading Democratic state senator is urging Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to rescind her executive order suspending the right to carry firearms in Albuquerque for at least 30 days.

"I think this has been a step in the wrong direction," Sen. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said in an interview Monday. While governors can work with state lawmakers on "genuine reforms" to address issues such as gun violence, he added, he doesn't believe Lujan Grisham's approach is constitutionally sound.

Lujan Grisham announced the executive order Friday, a day after declaring a public health emergency due to a rise in gun violence. She acknowledged she expected legal challenges, and several lawsuits already have been filed in federal court over the gun ban.

Some lawmakers argue, however, the governor's order was aimed at starting a serious conversation about how to combat gun violence in a state with one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the nation.

"We are certainly having that," said Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat.

"I commend her for trying to do something," Stewart said of Lujan Grisham. "I think she knows what she's doing."

The governor plans to renew her push for gun control measures that have failed in the past, such as an automatic weapons ban that didn't pass the Legislature during this year's session.

Caroline Sweeney, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, wrote in an email Monday the governor plans to promote legislation enacting a 14-day waiting period for gun sales and prohibiting the sale of guns to those under 21 in the 2024 session, which starts in January. Those proposals also failed to garner support during this year's session.

Still, Democrats and Republicans alike said they hope the governor puts crime-fighting measures on the agenda for the upcoming 30-day session, which will be focused on the budget and any initiatives the governor adds.

Stewart said she believes Senate Democrats will support "solid" gun safety measures in 2024. "We are hearing loudly from our constituents about this, and I think the governor is speaking loudly about this," she said.

Ultimately, Stewart said, Lujan Grisham will have to lead the way on any legislation. "The governor has to approve it. ... She's in the driver's seat for 30-day sessions."

House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said he'd like to see the Legislature take another pass at the state's pretrial release law, making it easier to keep dangerous criminals behind bars until they go to trial. Lujan Grisham supported such an effort this year, but it raised constitutional concerns among some lawmakers.

Lane also said House Republicans would support efforts to ensure people with mental health conditions are diverted into treatment rather than the criminal justice system, where they could become "skilled and experienced" criminals.

When she announced the public health emergency last week, Lujan Grisham cited in particular the death of an 11-year-old boy in Albuquerque in what police have described as a road-rage shooting and the death last month of a 5-year-old girl during a drive-by shooting at an Albuquerque mobile home park.

Gun violence is estimated to kill almost 500 people per year in New Mexico, ranking the state seventh in the nation for gun deaths per capita, according to 2022 data provided by the gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety.

But lawmakers in the state have shown little appetite for passing more stringent gun laws, often arguing more laws won't lead to less violence.

Dennis Giever, head of the criminal justice department at New Mexico State University, suggested they might be right.

"It's a much bigger issue than we can solve with a piece of paper, a piece of legislation," he said in an interview Monday. He cited the nation's growing political divisions.

"There's so little respect among people, and it's escalating into violence," Giever said. "Laws won't resolve people's distrust of each other; laws won't eliminate prejudice and sexism and other underlying problems" behind violence.

Lane, meanwhile, said he'd like the Legislature to convene a special session to "address the authority a governor has" in response to her gun ban.

He noted very few state Democratic lawmakers have spoken out publicly in favor of the governor's order, probably because they "realize how bad of an overreach it is."

He said he fears the governor might make other executive orders that could infringe on constitutional rights, such as "free speech or your right against search and seizure."

Other Republican state lawmakers said they agreed the governor has overstepped her legal boundaries. GOP leaders in both the state House and Senate said they plan to file a lawsuit over Lujan Grisham's gun ban. The state GOP also announced its plan to sue.

They would join several organizations, including the National Association for Gun Rights, Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation, which already have filed federal lawsuits challenging the order.

Giever said those plaintiffs may have a case.

"I don't see the courts agreeing with it. I think in the long run they'll say the governor doesn't have the authority to do this," he said.

Maryam Ahranjani, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, said legal pushback to the order should not be surprising. "Some folks feel it exceeds the length of her power, especially when it comes to Second Amendment issues," she said.

Lauren Rodriguez, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Raúl Torrez, wrote in an email her office is "evaluating" the executive order.

Archbishop John C. Wester weighed in on the matter Monday, writing in an email he does not think Lujan Grisham is "attacking the Second Amendment. She knows the law."

Wester wrote, "Rather, I believe she is trying to get us to solve what has become a crisis in our state. The focus should be on the sanctity of human life. That is the point.

"I hope to hear more of an outcry over an eleven-year-old boy killed by a bullet fired in a road rage incident than over the right to carry a gun. I do not see the governor's call to action and discernment as a threat to the constitution."