Dear New Mexico NRA Member:
As early as TONIGHT, the New Mexico House could vote on House Bill 193, which 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 will 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Mexico's ERPO law, which has been a failure and tramples on civil liberties with little or no due process, should be repealed, not expanded. Please contact your State Representative and urge them to OPPOSE HB 193.
Sincerely,
NRA Institute for Legislative Action