National Guard Deployed to Albuquerque to Fight Juvenile Crime, Fentanyl

Albuquerque is probably best known as a place you’re supposed to make a left turn at, but it’s also known for a particularly stupid Second Amendment fight. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham tried to ban the lawful carry of firearms unilaterally under the guise of addressing a “public health” emergency, building on the idea that so-called gun violence was a health issue.

It didn’t last in the form she originally intended, but she left a lot of rules still in place because crime was such an issue.

And how well did it work?

Well, dozens of National Guard troops are being deployed to Albuquerque, if that answers your question.

After Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced she’s sending the National Guard to Albuquerque to address a spike in juvenile crime and fentanyl, the state’s GOP said the move isn’t enough.

Grisham signed an executive order on April 8 that authorized the deployment of the 60-70 New Mexico National Guard personnel to Albuquerque by mid-May, citing the fentanyl epidemic and a rise in juvenile crime as “critical issues requiring immediate intervention.”

The National Guard, however, won’t be directly helping tackle the fentanyl crisis or juvenile crime. Instead, they’ll be used for scene security and traffic control, prisoner transport assistance and other roles that don’t involve arrests. A press release from Grisham’s office said the National Guard will free up Albuquerque Police Department resources.

New Mexico Republican Party Executive Director Leticia Muñoz told Fox News Digital that the National Guard deployment doesn’t come close to addressing the issue at hand. She said more substantive measures such as bail reform and harsher penalties are needed.

“No, this is definitely not enough. What this is, is you can see a mismanagement, obviously, of the mayor. And, you know, as much as we appreciate all the work that the law enforcement is doing here in Albuquerque, we know that their hands are tied,” Muñoz said. “We know that there needs to be bail reform and reform as far as the deterrent of keeping individuals in jail longer.”

She said it seems like Democrats are trying to “coddle juveniles,” citing a proposed pilot program in the state that would provide up to $2,000 in housing assistance for juvenile suspects after their release from detention, if they’re well-behaved.

And yes, many of these juvenile crimes are violent in nature, including a group of kids charged with murder for hitting a man on a bicycle and killing him while driving in a stolen car.

Now, as noted, the National Guard won’t be making arrests, but will handle some other duties so police can be out on the streets, making arrests and deterring crime, but I can’t help but remember Grisham’s attempt to stomp all over the Second Amendment rights of people in that city.

For one thing, neither what was permitted to remain by the courts nor the recent gun control laws have done all that much, if anything, to make Albuquerque the least bit safer.

So now they’re sending in the National Guard because it’s still a dangerous place.

It just seems funny to me.

Criminal justice reform is most definitely needed, because we’ve seen how past bail reform efforts have only made violent crime worse pretty much everywhere they’ve been tried. I understand the arguments proponents of those measures used and, to some degree, I’m sympathetic to them. However, the fact is that when you put that in place, you get more violent crime. While correlation doesn’t equal causation, the fact that violent crime rates drop when the status quo is returned sure does suggest that it does in this case.

And the fact that law-abiding citizens were curtailed for fully exercising their Second Amendment rights didn’t impact criminals in the least. It never does and never will.

Grisham has completely botched things in Albuquerque. How anyone could vote for her is beyond me.