New Mexico Senate Democrats stuck together and passed legislation Saturday containing a broad semiautomatic firearm ban and new restrictions and requirements for licensed firearms dealers.
The legislation, SB 17, passed the Senate on a vote of 21-17.
New Mexico Senate Republicans released a statement from New Mexico Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer:
Today, Democrats in Santa Fe decided that the rights of New Mexicans to protect themselves and their families should be eliminated. Listen to the words they say, they have repeatedly admitted this bill is unconstitutional, yet they are forcing it upon law-abiding citizens. New Mexicans deserve to be represented by elected officials who take their oaths of office seriously, not by activists who hate our Constitution and who promote fringe radical policies designed to undermine the very foundation of our Nation.
Breitbart News reported that SB 17 contains new “security requirements” for licensed gun dealers that include:
…Site hardening, including locks on doors and windows and other features. Features shall be designed to prevent unauthorized entry, which may include bars or grates, security screens and commercial-grade metal doors; installation and use of video surveillance systems, including video recording devices at each point of sale and each entrance and exit to the premises, which shall be recorded from both the indoor and outdoor vantage point, and the dealer shall maintain such recordings for a period of not less than two years; and other reasonable requirements, as determined by the department and the attorney general, to reduce the risk of burglaries at dealers’ premises and the theft of firearms in shipment to and from dealers’ premises.
The bill also bans the most popular semiautomatic rifle in America, as well as numerous semiautomatic shotguns and pistols, too.
State Sen. Jay Block (R-Rio Rancho) described the bill as “the worst mockery of the Second Amendment in the state’s history.”
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 the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD 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. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.