Gun debate prompts weapons ban at New Mexico state Senate

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Lawmakers began discussing legislation Tuesday that would allow authorities to take guns away from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham are pushing for legislation.

Hundreds of people filled the state Senate gallery, including gun control advocates wearing “Moms Demand Action” T-shirts and more than a dozen county sheriffs who are outspoken opponents of the initiative.

Sheriffs Association Chairman Tony Mace, a Democrat from Cibola County, said sheriffs are speaking up for constituents who fear they could be stripped of firearms without due process.

“They feel it's a backdoor approach to a gun confiscation,” Mace said. “We swore an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution. ... That's our guiding light.”

The state Senate prohibited firearms in its public gallery and nearby rooms for the first time Tuesday, with exceptions for law enforcement officials. No specific threats were cited.

A similar bill won House approval last year before stalling in the Senate. Advocates have redoubled their efforts in response to a mass shooting last year in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people. Police say the gunman specifically targeted Mexicans.

“That's what his plan was, to kill Mexicans, and he told us that,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes, sponsor of the bill. “This initiative gives courts and law enforcement and individuals a procedure — and an expedited one — to try and respond to something like that.”

Opponents are raising concerns that the legislation would undermine constitutional guarantees to free speech, due process and Second Amendment rights.

Cervantes said substantial amendments to his bill are likely as legislators attempt to address concerns with the bill. Suicide prevention also is being invoked as a purpose of the legislation.

Lujan Grisham last week described gun violence in her own family with the suicide of a mentally ill cousin in 2012. She said the death might have been prevented by relatives if the state allowed firearm protection orders.

“I know that we don't have (support from) the association for sheriffs and others, and I think it's a testament to the poisonous national climate where you have to pick a side,” Lujan Grisham said.

Annual firearm mortality rates in New Mexico consistently exceed the national average, with suicides accounting for about two-thirds of gun deaths in 2017, according to the state epidemiologist.

Statehouse rules ordinarily allow the open carry of legally owned firearms, along with permitted concealed weapons. Restrictions and screenings for weapons have been implemented in recent years in the state House chamber for the governor's State of the State address when the top elected and appointed officials are clustered in one room.