New Mexicans looking to purchase firearms have undergone background checks more than 414,000 times since the state’s law mandating pre-purchase checks took effect in July 2021.
That’s 414,000 too many for State Representative Stephanie Lord (R-Sandia Park) who is also the founder of Pro-Gun Women, a gun rights advocacy group. She has introduced legislation to repeal the state’s laws requiring background checks for any firearms purchases.
“We are the stomping ground for taking gun rights away… The radical progressives are taking over and they are destroying the state and the nation,” Lord told conservative podcaster Lars Larson on Jan. 4.
While Lord’s bill has little chance of getting past the State House controlled by Democrats and a governor certain to veto it, she has drawn encouragement from gun rights groups in the state. “2024 HB58 from @Lord4NM would repeal the law criminalizing private firearm sales in New Mexico,” the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, a highly-visible gun rights group, shared on X, formerly Twitter.
The original bill passed in 2019 was a priority of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democrat leadership who championed it as a gun violence prevention measure. Many conservative sheriffs and county commissions promptly declared their counties “2nd Amendment sanctuaries” and refused to enforce the law.
Lujan Grisham has called for her own package of gun legislation in the upcoming legislative session, including a ban on assault rifle purchases and greater reporting of gun-related incidents.
Public health data shared by the governor late last year showed that firearms-related emergency room treatment in New Mexico has increased to record levels for three years in a row.
Lord has called for the legislature to impeach Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for issuing a public health order limiting the carrying of firearms in public parks and playgrounds in response to a rise in gun violence. A federal court declined a request to halt enforcement.