The Patriot Post® · New Mexico Gun Grab Backfires
Democrat New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham canceled the Second Amendment last weekend, and she’s facing stiff opposition — even from her own party.
U.S. District Judge David Urias, appointed by Joe “Double-Barrel Shotgun” Biden, was the first judge to stand in the governor’s way. He granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday blocking her order. The National Association for Gun Rights, We the Patriots USA, Gun Owners of America, and residents of the affected jurisdictions all fought the order.
Not that any law enforcement officers or other officials in New Mexico were going to back up the governor. As we noted Tuesday, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina and Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen both publicly refused to enforce her order, as did Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman. Next was Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. Then on Wednesday, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued a public statement refusing to prosecute.
Every last one of those men is or was appointed by a Democrat.
None of them minced words, either, including Torrez. “Though I recognize my statutory obligation as New Mexico’s chief legal officer to defend state officials when they are sued in their official capacity, my duty to uphold and defend the constitutional rights of every citizen takes precedence,” he wrote in a letter to Governor Lujan Grisham. “Simply put, I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety but, more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.”
The Second Amendment’s clear language aside, part of Lujan Grisham’s problem is that she couldn’t even be bothered to call the Democrat-dominated legislature into a special session to deal with the supposed “emergency.”
Instead, she’s relying on wild emotional appeals and pitching fits. She accused Sheriff Allen of being “squeamish” and implied that, unlike her, he was unwilling to keep people safe or put them first. If officials oppose her, “That’s their opinion,” she huffed. “They have no bold actions” to stop “gun violence.”
“I refuse to be resigned to the status quo,” she wailed after Judge Urias’s order. “I call on leaders across the state, from local law enforcement to the Legislature to mayors and county commissioners: Stand with me to enact solutions that save people’s lives. Throwing up our hands is not an option.”
Neither is throwing out the Constitution. Yet that’s exactly what she admitted to doing. When she issued the order, she declared, “No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute.” Her fellow Democrats — i.e., the entire party — is constantly looking for ways to undermine, reject, or totally ignore the Constitution.
But you can’t say that out loud, they must be thinking.
Just like the governor, every Leftmedia news report on the subject is sure to prominently feature appeals to emotion. In Albuquerque in recent months, several children have been killed by assailants using firearms, which the governor and her allies in the press bring up at every opportunity. Ergo, the implication is, Lujan Grisham’s attempt to “do something” is at least good-hearted and legitimate.
Wrong.
It’s tyranny, plain and simple, and it wouldn’t save a single life even if it wasn’t. A criminal willing to murder someone sure as heck isn’t going to be deterred by a civil fine for carrying a gun.
Speaking of deterrence, Lujan Grisham needs some of that, and state Democrat lawmakers may actually provide the checks and balances. Some are even publicly discussing the possibility of impeachment.