State senator critical of ban

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Sept. 8 public health emergency order banning the open or concealed carry of firearms in public in Bernalillo County is “clearly unconstitutional,” state Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces told the Bulletin.

Cervantes is a long-time Las Cruces attorney, chair of the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee and the senior member of the Doña Ana County legislative delegation. Like Lujan Grisham, he is a Democrat.

Cervantes said the governor’s order violates both the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right to bear arms and the New Mexico Constitution, which he said is even broader in its guarantee of a citizen’s right to openly carry firearms.

Cervantes also said he “does not find it credible” that Grisham’s order falls under the definition of a public health emergency.

In a Sept. 12 letter to the governor, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said he does not believe the order “will have any meaningful effect on public safety but, more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.”

Torrez also told the governor he will not defend her administration in the lawsuits filed against her because of the order.

Albuquerque and Bernalillo County law enforcement officials have said they will not enforce the order, leading Cervantes to question the value of the order if no one follows it.

“That’s not good,” he said. New Mexico “needs an effective governor who has the confidence of the public and the trust of law enforcement.”

Cervantes said he expects the order, which was issued for 30 days, to be overturned in either state or federal court.

Cervantes said the governor issued the order “in response to a tragedy” that has come about because leaders in Albuquerque “have accepted a level of violence that shouldn’t be tolerable. They should embrace the challenge and solve it,” he said.