New Mexico Woman Arrested For Unsecured Guns After Teen Threatened Another

One problem with cohabiting with anyone, family or not, is that if they do something to gain the interest of law enforcement, especially to a degree where they’re going to get a search warrant, your stuff is probably going to get searched as well.

This makes sense, after all, since you could otherwise hide illegal items from the police just by putting it with your belongings.

And this fact just landed one New Mexico woman in hot water, apparently.

According to Clovis PD, Rachel Aranda, 35, was arrested Thursday after police seized two pistols from a home while executing a search warrant related to a separate aggravated assault case.

As was previously reported by Myhighplains.com, officers were called to the 700 block of Axtell Street on a domestic violence call involving a 17-year-old.

…

Police said the 17-year-old pointed a pistol at another minor and her child. He was later arrested on March 28 and taken to a juvenile detention facility.

Police found a pink and silver 9mm semi-automatic and a .22 caliber pistol of some description, neither of which was secured.

That led to charges because the 17-year-old lived in the home.

What kind of relationship the boy had with Aranda is unclear–it’s likely that it’s her son, but nothing is definitive on that front. It’s also possible it’s some other kind of family member. If it’s not, well, I’m not sure why a 35-year-old woman is living with a kid who isn’t her son or some other relative.

Either way, the kid allegedly threatened another minor and the minor’s child, so you know you’re dealing with the upper crust here.

Now, I don’t agree with mandatory storage laws and never will.

I also don’t agree with leaving guns lying around where 17-year-olds could grab them and threaten other people with them.

It’s imperative that we, as gun owners, be responsible and hold one another responsible when someone else fails to use common sense. Especially if you live with a hothead who’s the kind that might grab a gun and threaten another person.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that this fine, upstanding young man had a gun of his own, purchased or otherwise obtained illegally and never looked at Aranda’s firearms. After all, if he had his own, why bother?

If so, I stand corrected, but that just introduces a bunch more for me to rant about until I’m blue in the face.

Adults who are responsible for kids, living in the same home with them, need to have some clue as to what is going on with them. Yes, you should secure your guns when not in use, but you should also have a clue if the kid has a handgun stashed somewhere. After all, they’re usually not that creative with their hiding places, so it’s not that hard to find.

Regardless of whatever the specifics might turn out to be, what we’ve got is a case where one person did something, prompting the police to get a search warrant, and then search the house, only to find out that Aranda hadn’t followed the laws particularly well herself.

Whoops.