ILA | New Mexico: Update on Anti-Gun Bills SB 224, HB 166 & HB 193; Pro-Gun Bill HB 279 to be Heard in House Committee on Tuesday!

Dear New Mexico NRA Member:

It was a busy end of the week, and will be a packed week ahead on mostly-bad firearm-related bills, with one bright spot for pro-Second Amendment legislation.

Senate Bill 224 by Sen. Sedillo Lopez (D-ABQ)

The Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee advanced this bill on a 4-2 vote late Friday, after deleting language from the measure which limited the authorized use of firearms by minors to those 12 years of age or older who had completed a training course.  It remains unclear how the legislation would impact events like 4-H, YHEC and other competitive shooting events and what potential liability would attach to coaches, volunteers, hosts of such events and the competitors themselves. 

Moreover, Senate Bill 224 still reads as follows: “It is an offense for a firearm owner or authorized user to store or keep a firearm in any premises unless the firearm is secured in a locked container or secured by a gun lock or other means so as to render the firearms inaccessible or unusable to any person other than the owner or authorized user.”  The state would require you to render your firearms useless in self-defense situations.  This is nothing more than a criminal protection bill.

The bill now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE SB 224. You may click here to look up contact information, or click the “Take Action” button to email them directly. 

House Bill 166 by Rep. Lujan (D-ABQ) & House Bill 193 by Rep. Ely (D-ABQ)

On Monday, February 22, at 1:30pm or upon final adjournment of the House, the House Judiciary Committee will hold virtual committee hearings on these two gun control bills.  You can participate in the committee Zoom and testify against these bills by copying this link to your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89543370073.  You may also watch the committee hearing by clicking on Webcast at http://www.nmlegis.gov.  

Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE HB 166 & HB 193. You may click here to look up contact information, or click the “Take Action” button to email them directly. 

House Bill 193 amends New Mexico’s red flag firearms surrender law to allow a police officer to petition for an extreme risk protective order (ERPO) directly, and to confiscate any firearms discovered when serving the order.  Owners of guns seized in this manner would no longer have the option of storing them with, or selling them to, a federal firearms licensed dealer (FFL), as the original law permitted.  And language has been added to the bill in a committee substitute to now allow ANYONE — not just a relative, intimate partner or school administrator as provided for in current law — who has information that a person poses a significant risk to themselves or others, to request that a law enforcement officer petition for an ERPO against that person.  The information doesn’t have to be verified, it just has to sound credible, and the allegation could be made by someone who has no mental health training or suffers from mental health issues of their own.

New Mexico’s ERPO law, which has been a failure and tramples on civil liberties with little or no due process, should be repealed not expanded.

House Bill 166 will essentially end the centuries-old custom of manufacturing firearms, or firearms components, for personal use. This proposed ban on self-made firearms would criminalize hobbyists who design or manufacture their own gun or gun components.  HB 166 creates a whole new list of criminal offenses and restrictions that far exceed federal law: 

* It would make you a criminal if you manufacture a firearm and you are not a federally-licensed manufacturer or dealer, even if using a serialized receiver purchased from an FFL with a background check, or if you possess such a firearm made by a non-FFL.

* It would make you a criminal if you manufacture or otherwise assemble a gun that has no serial number placed on the receiver or frame by a federally-licensed manufacturer or importer, or if you are not an FFL and you possess or purchase separately, or as part of a kit, a firearm frame or receiver that lacks an imprinted serial number.

* It would make you a criminal if you use a 3D printer or similar device to manufacture a firearm or firearm component and you are not a federally-licensed manufacturer or dealer, or if you possess a firearm (or, presumably a firearm component) manufactured by a non-FFL using a 3D printer.  Anyone making this technology, including digital instructions or design files, available for firearms or firearm component production to non-FFLs in New Mexico, would be a criminal as well.

House Bill 279 by Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park)

House Bill 279 prevents future executive or Department of Health emergency orders from shutting down firearms manufacturers, retailers and shooting ranges, and denying law-abiding citizens their right to purchase, own and use firearms.  

On Tuesday, February 23, at 1:30pm or upon final adjournment of the House, the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee will hold a virtual committee hearing on the bill.  You can participate in the committee Zoom and testify FOR HB 279 by copying this link to your browser:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89243737297.  You may also watch the committee hearing by clicking on Webcast at http://www.nmlegis.gov. 

Please contact committee members and urge them to SUPPORT HB 279.  You may click here to look up contact information, or click the “Take Action” button to email them directly.

Sincerely,
NRA Institute for Legislative Action