The New Mexico House of Representatives will vote any day now on House Bill 9 by Rep. Pamela Herndon (D-ABQ), a bill that creates back-door storage requirements by imposing criminal penalties on gun owners if a third-party minor accesses and displays, brandishes or injures someone with their firearm. It is important that you keep contacting your State Representatives and keep urging them to OPPOSE HB 9. For more information on the legislation, click here. If you don't know who your State Representative is, click here.
On Tuesday, the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee advanced two extreme gun control proposals on a 4-2 party line vote:
* House Bill 100 by Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), expands New Mexico’s so-called “universal background check” law to include a mandatory 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases. This criminal protection bill would add nothing to the existing FBI background check process and only delay your ability to exercise your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, your family and your property.
* A committee substitute for House Bill 101, also by Rep. Andrea Romero, bans the manufacture, sale, purchase and possession of many semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines that law-abiding citizens commonly own for self-defense, competition, and recreation, as well as certain attachments for them; bans handguns with fixed magazines that can hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition and long guns with fixed magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition; bans parts or combinations of parts from which such firearms can be assembled; and bans .50 BMG caliber firearms and ammunition. Current owners of any of these firearms or items would have to register them with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety prior to March 1, 2024, to maintain possession, or transfer them out of state or to a federal firearm licensed dealer, or face FELONY charges.
Both bills now move to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. NRA-ILA will notify you as to when HB 100 and HB 101 are set for hearings in that committee.
This same committee voted to table House Bill 164, by Republican Reps. John Block, Stefani Lord, Tanya Mirabal Moya, Mark Duncan & Jimmy Mason: "constitutional carry" legislation that would have recognized the right of law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm for self-defense without first obtaining government permission. We thank these representatives for filing this important legislation in support of your Second Amendment rights in New Mexico!
On Monday, the Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee approved Senate Bill 171 by Sen. Bill Soules (D-Las Cruces), legislation that attempts to supercede federal law and make it a FELONY to manufacture, sell, transfer, or acquire National Firearms Act items, as well as certain semi-automatic pistols. The committee did, however, remove firearm sound suppressors from the restrictions in the legislation. The measure now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration. NRA-ILA will notify you as to when SB 171 is scheduled for a hearing in that committee.