Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed suit over Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) ban on carrying a handgun in public in Albuquerque and other New Mexico cities.
The ban applies to both concealed and open carry.
GOA, together with Randy Donk and the Gun Owners Foundation, seeks a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction against the order.
Erich Pratt, GOA executive vice president, told Breitbart News, “Gun Owners of America has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s gross and egregious violation of the U.S. Constitution. Her claim that there are ‘exceptions to the Second Amendment’ is not only wrong, but it also blows open a huge hole in the Bill of Rights. GOA will not rest until the rights of New Mexicans are restored.”
This is the second suit filed against Grisham’s order, as Breitbart News noted that the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) filed a suit as well.
The AP pointed out that NAGR, together with Albuquerque resident Foster Raines, filed suit against Grisham’s 30-day order.
The lawsuits come as a growing number of law enforcement figures make it clear they will not enforce the ban.
For example, Breitbart News reported that Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said Saturday he will not be enforcing Grisham’s order.
The AP quoted Bregman saying, “As an officer of the court, I cannot and will not enforce something that is clearly unconstitutional.”
Bregman added, “This office will continue to focus on criminals of any age that use guns in the commission of a crime.”
Grisham’s order prohibiting the carrying a handgun is categorized “as an emergency public health order.” Law enforcement is exempt from the order, as are “licensed security guards.” However, licensed concealed carry permit holders — who carry daily for self-defense — are barred from carrying their guns as long as the order is in place.
On Friday, when the ordered the was issued, Grisham took questions from reporters and KOB4 observed her telling one reporter that “no constitutional right … is intended to be absolute.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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