By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A New Mexico Republican state representative has criticized a new gun control bill now before the State Legislature, declaring, “It is clear [Democrats] are dead-set on disarming all New Mexicans,” according to Fox News.
The measure is Senate Bill 279, dubbed the “Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act.” The critic is Rep. John Block, an Alamogordo Republican who was also quoted asserting this year is witness to the “most liberal legislative session this state has ever seen.”
According to the New Mexico Legislature’s website, the bill is now in the Senate Finance Committee after the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended against passage of the original legislation, but did recommend passage of a substitute bill.
SB 279 is sponsored by Senators Micaelita Debbie O’Malley and Heather Berghmans, and Reps. Andrea Romero, Charlotte Little and Patricia Roybal Caballero, all Democrats.
Democrats, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, insist the measure allows people to keep their “regulated” firearms if they file a form with their local gun dealer, which she reportedly claims is not gun registration.
The battle is similar to one which happened in Washington two years ago, and the political/judicial fight which erupted anew Wednesday in Oregon after a State Appeals Court panel unanimously upheld the constitutionality of Measure 114, a sweeping and restrictive gun control measure barely passed by voters in 2022. Washington banned so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” over the course of two legislative sessions, while allowing owners of existing guns and magazines to keep them. Both bans are tied up in federal court. Oregon’s court fight over Measure 114 will continue, with plaintiffs promising to appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.
There has been a major push by Democrats in several states to add as many restrictive regulations to gun ownership as they can, perhaps in an effort to fill the books with gun control laws now that the U.S. Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, and President Donald Trump is back in the White House, where he can nominate more conservatives to the lower federal courts.
Groups including the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America and Firearms Policy Coalition have launched scores of lawsuits challenging gun control laws across the country.
Oregon’s Measure 114 includes a requirement that citizens obtain a permit-to-purchase from the police before they can buy a firearm.
In neighboring Washington, the focus is on House Bill 1163, which also seeks to require a permit-to-purchase.
In both states, the permitting process includes having to show completion of a state-approved gun safety course, to include a live-fire segment and background check. Opponents say this requirement is unnecessarily redundant since gun buyers must go through a background check when they actually purchase a firearm.
