Has New Mexico’s Governor Seen the Light on Gun Control?

I doubt it, but Michelle Lujan Grisham may be feeling the heat from gun owners and even Democratic lawmakers when it comes to our right to keep and bear arms. 

The governor has been a gun control champion over the past few years, including her edict in 2023 unilaterally prohibiting concealed carry in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County and her push for legislation banning most semi-automatic rifles and shotguns and establsiing 14-day waiting period (among other bills). But Lujan Grisham hasn’t seen much success with those efforts. She eventually scaled back her public health order on concealed carry to limit it solely to playgrounds in the city and county, and even that is the subject of litigation. While Democrats in Santa Fe have adoped several new gun control bills during the last few sessions, they’ve also rejected her push for a gun ban and watered down several of her other proposals. 

All that might help to explain why Lujan Grisham took a very different approach to public safety in her State of the State address to lawmakers this week.

Lujan Grisham pointed to data shared by the nonpartisan nonprofit Council of State Governments Justice Center that shows New Mexico’s violent crime rate in 2023 was 21% higher than a decade earlier and twice the national average. 

The governor has cited an intersection between poverty, homelessness, mental health, addiction and crime, saying the state needs to invest more in programs to help people become stable, productive members of society.

Leading Democratic legislators also are proposing the creation of a $1 billion trust to underwrite future spending on addiction and mental health treatment to rein in crime and homelessness. Companion legislation might compel some people to receive treatment.

Lujan Grisham also voiced her support for holding people who are deemed dangerous in custody pending trial and toughening laws to ensure repeat offenders are held accountable. She said it’s a small group of repeat offenders who wreak a large percentage of havoc.

”We cannot, we must not let this continue,” she said. ”We need the tools to overcome this challenge.”

Focusing on repeat, violent offenders instead of lawful gun owners? What a novel idea… at least for the governor, who’s been eager to blame legal gun owners for New Mexico’s high rate of violent crime during her tenure in office. 

As pleased as I am to see Lujan Grisham drop the talk of gun bans and other anti-2A measures, I’m also skeptical that she’s truly had a change of heart. It may be that she’s still quietly lobbying lawmakers to adopt new gun control measures without shining a spotlight on her efforts. We know that passing “assault weapon” bans at the state level is the top priority of the gun control lobby this year, and Lujan Grisham’s always been willing to do their bidding in the past.

Even if the governor is still stumping for gun control on the down low, the fact that she dropped all mention of new restrictions on legal gun owners in her State of the State address is a positive sign for 2A advocates in the state. If Lujan Grisham thought there was political benefit in demanding a gun ban I have no doubt she would have included that in her legislative agenda for this session. It looks like the governor has finally wised up and realized that her anti-gun ideology isn’t as popular as she thought, and the voters would rather she and lawmakers go after violent offenders than New Mexicans exercising their Second Amendment rights.