This story is republished from NM Political Report, a nonprofit news outlet, as a part of our commitment to bringing you the best in independent news coverage that matters to Albuquerque.
By Nicole Maxwell
A bill seeking to allow commissioned law enforcement officers to bring firearms to election polling locations cleared a legislative committee Thursday afternoon. HB 101 would exempt law enforcement officers from the law prohibiting firearms at polling places. Curry County Sheriff Michael Brockett told House Consumer and Public Affairs committee members that his county is too big “for a small amount of people to police.”
“As a result of that, during election time, especially on election night, our county clerk relies upon us to gather all the ballots and bring them back to her,” l Brockett said. “This statute, the way it’s currently written, doesn’t allow for my court deputies to help out, and right now I’m very short handed.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, said her goal is to make sure officers such as deputies in Curry County aren’t forced to break the law.
“I’m only trying to protect commissioned officers… from not picking up criminal charges,” Reeb said.
A law passed last year bans open-carry firearms at polling places with exceptions, including certified law enforcement officers, a person in a private automobile and a person carrying a concealed firearm who has a valid concealed-carry handgun license.
“Agencies are uncertain about how to interpret who is included in the proposed exemptions in HB 101. There are no definitions in the bill clarifying the difference between “commissioned” officers and “certified” officers already covered by statute,” the bill’s Fiscal Impact Report states.
Both the Administrative Office of the Court and the New Mexico Department of Justice have concerns with the language in the bill.
“The Administrative Office of the Court (AOC) notes that commissioned officers may not have been certified or trained by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy but does not explain why this matters in the case of officers carrying firearms into polling places,” the report states.
The New Mexico Department of Justice said in the report that there is “ no agreed definition for ‘commissioned law enforcement officer’ in New Mexico statute and that additional definitions could be helpful to clarify the bill’s intent.