Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has had a bad few days. She overstepped the powers granted to her by the New Mexico State Constitution and suspended the right of New Mexicans to bear arms, but “only” for a 30-day window and “only” in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, because of a public health emergency that she divined into existence.
Of course, it was for the children. That’s often the rallying cry of tyrants who cloak themselves in the language of decency and humanity. As I wrote before, the incidents with child victims that Gov. Grisham invoked were all the result of criminal activity. One of those crimes happened inside a private residence. But instead of targeting criminals, Grisham suspended the public right to bear arms for peaceable citizens who went through the process of getting a concealed carry permit, paying a fee, and subjecting themselves to a background check.
Grisham has been left marooned on her little island of gun control. Her illegal, unconstitutional violation of the people’s civil rights has been so brazen and egregious that besides some vocal gun control extremists, just about everyone with an important role to play has bailed on her. The Albuquerque Mayor and Police Chief, the Bernalillo County Sheriff and District Attorney, and most importantly, the Attorney General of New Mexico have all refused to enforce Grisham’s Executive Order because it’s so obviously illegal.
When challenged recently on CNN, she dug her heels in again:
"I would love to see the same outrage from Republicans when a child in New Mexico is killed by gun violence. It is unfortunate they are taking this opportunity to spew NRA talking points instead of proposing meaningful legislative solutions to on how we can make New Mexico safer." - via X (formerly Twitter)
“If you’re not going to stand up for these kids and really test as hard as you can getting fewer guns and dealing with gun violence in a meaningful way, then you’re basically saying that you won’t be responsible to protect the citizens of the state. Well, I will, and I will do everything in my power to turn the tide and to make sure every New Mexican, particularly children, are safe.”
The Governor has already admitted that there would be legal challenges to her order. She openly said that criminals would ignore it. But she claimed that no right is absolute, and that even her own oath of office isn’t absolute. And she’s doing all this for the children, of course.
Gun control didn’t cause lower crime in Chicago or St. Louis. The District of Columbia was crime-ridden both before and after the landmark DC v. Hellercase. Grisham has already signed new gun control laws and they didn’t make a difference. How much more is she going to push the People and how much further is she going to infringe on their rights?
New Mexico Republicans have started talking about impeachment. Given the political reality of the state, impeachment may be a mathematical impossibility. But it’s important that impeachment proceed, nevertheless. Both the U.S. Constitution and the New Mexico State Constitution are nothing more than pieces of paper – parchment barriers as described by James Madison – without the political will to assert them.
While court cases challenging Grisham’s order are in the pipeline, the legislature needs to do its job by impeaching the Governor for her tyrannical actions, regardless of the nobility of her intentions or the sincerity of her political posturing.
President Ronald Reagan once said:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Impeaching Gov. Grisham is the right thing to do, and it’s for the children. Her touchy-feely compassionate and concerned talk is fine, but her actions shake the very foundation of the American system of government. That needs to be dealt with now, lest any future leader decides to go down the same dark road, but further along than where Gov. Grisham has gone this time around.