The latest example of how the Democrats hate and trample constitutional rights is in New Mexico, where the governor implemented a supposedly temporary ban on gun carry, even for those with legal permits.
Anyone with common sense or even a drop of respect for the U.S. Constitution knows that guns are merely tools. They also know that some places with tight gun control have the worst violent crime, like Chicago. The Founding Fathers understood that the right to keep and bear arms protects all the other rights in the Constitution, and that when the government disarms people, it is the first step toward tyranny. Which makes the gun-grabbing Democrats’ ultimate intentions pretty clear.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Sept. 8 on the governor’s move, taken after several child shooting deaths this year:
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced a new public health order that, she said, will prohibit people from carrying firearms, either open or concealed, in Albuquerque and throughout Bernalillo County for the next 30 days, regardless of whether they have a permit.
The order takes effect immediately. It states “no person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm … either openly or concealed, within cities or counties averaging 1,000 or more violent crimes per 100,000 residents per year since 2021.”
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, issued an executive order Thursday evening declaring gun violence a public health emergency. During a news conference Friday, she said she expects legal challenges to the new public health order and expressed uncertainty about whether the order would prevail in court… After the 30-day period, Lujan Grisham said her administration “will either amend or remove or adjust” the order depending on circumstances.
The Governor of New Mexico has just declared the 1st & 2nd Amendment “does not exist” due to an “emergency.”
Under this legal theory *all* of our “rights” are essentially eliminated.
Watch the most evil & tyrannical 60 seconds you’ve ever heard from a politician: pic.twitter.com/xLpMSTbyi2
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 9, 2023
Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis and Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca both slammed Lujan Grisham’s move as unconstitutional. “If the governor does not rescind this order, I’m calling on law enforcement to follow the constitution and not unconstitutional edicts from a wannabe dictator,” Lewis said. “Law enforcement officers took an oath to defend the constitution.”
Baca, meanwhile, insisted that the governor’s policies on crime are the problem, not guns. “[Her] soft-on-crime approach has failed and put the safety of all New Mexicans in great jeopardy,” Baca insisted. The executive order doesn’t stop criminals, who ignore the law if they want; it simply puts citizens in greater danger.
Two things are particularly concerning about this story. First, there is the aspect of the governor openly trampling constitutional rights via executive order, entirely by her own authority — which she overstepped. Second, there is a danger of this method spreading. Joe Biden and his administration have consistently tried to undermine gun rights. Congressional Democrats are equally eager to attack the Second Amendment.
What if other governors or mayors or even the president decide to declare a public health emergency related to guns as Lujan Grisham did? After all, during COVID-19, governments across America — both local and federal officials — grossly violated Americans’ First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion (by closing churches, etc.). Why wouldn’t they do the same again, for the Second Amendment?
Related: Biden’s ATF Continues Its War on Gun Dealers
These declared “emergencies” have nothing to do with the facts of the situation. Just as COVID lockdowns and masks caused far more harm than good, the facts of “gun control” are that such policies don’t limit gun crime. Between 1950 and May 2022, 94% of mass public shootings occurred in gun-free zones. As of 2020, a Secret Service report found that 42% of mass shootings involved illegally owned guns.
Founder Thomas Jefferson observed, “[Such laws] disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants.” That’s exactly why Lujan Grisham is a fraud when she pretends her anti-constitutional order is meant to protect people.