New Mexico Gun Ban Bill Fails to Reach House Floor Before Session Adjourns

As of publication, there’s still about a half-hour left in the 2026 New Mexico legislative session, but we can confidently say that the bill banning the sale of all gas-operated centerfire rifles and many other commonly owned arms will not get a final vote in the House this session. Instead, SB 17 was left in limbo by the House Judiciary committee after a late night meeting on Monday evening that stretched into Tuesday morning. 

🚨WE WON!!!

The unconstitutional gun-grab bill SB 17 is dead!☠️

It would have burdened small businesses, threatened constitutional rights, and exposed New Mexico to major legal risk.

I was proud to stand at the front of the fight against it, but it took many voices working…

— Rep Stefani Lord (@Lord4NM) February 19, 2026

A number of amendments were offered to the legislation at that meeting, and lawmakers announced they needed time to consider them before voting on the bill. The committee did not reconvene after making that announcement, and as early as Tuesday afternoon there were signs that the bill had stalled out for the year. 

So what stopped its progress? There were likely a couple of factors at work.

One of the proposed amendments sought to reconcile a conflict between federal law and the proposed legislation, which would have inadvertently restricted individuals from retrieving firearms stored at pawn shops. 

“As drafted, Senate Bill 17 creates an unintended conflict that could limit a law-abiding citizen’s ability to redeem their own personal property,” said Tony Tanner, owner of T&R Trading in Gallup. “We look forward to continue working with the sponsors to resolve these issues.”

Another issue, though, was that even some gun control advocates were convinced the bill was too broad and would lead to a successful court challenge; one that could allow the Supreme Court to strike down “assault weapon” bans nationwide. New Mexicans Against Gun Violence head Miranda Viscoli was one of those activists going public with her concerns over the Everytown-backed bill, and though the legislation’s sponsors would never publicly say that she helped persuade them to allow the bill to quietly expire (they’ve gotta keep Everytown happy in order to get their Bloomberg bucks for re-election, after all), I suspect that Viscoli’s opposition played a role in SB 17 remaining in limbo as the session expired. 

What about the efforts of New Mexico gun owners, who turned out in droves to oppose SB 17? While their testimony didn’t change any minds in the state Senate, I also suspect that there were some House Democrats who represent rural areas who heard those gun owners loud and clear and quietly voiced opposition of their own to sponsors like Rep. Andrea Romero. 

Zachary Fort, president of the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, echoed guns rights advocacy groups from across the country who have taken a hard line against firearms regulations, arguing that SB 17 would not have gotten to the heart of rising rates of gun violence across the U.S.

“We are firmly opposed to specific bans on specific firearms,” he told the Journal in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “We strongly believe that accountability needs to be for the people who commit acts of violence. The best way to do that is to … hold people accountable and not just kind of try to attempt to ban broad categories of firearms.”

The bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate is already vowing to bring the bill back next session, and we’ll have to wait and see if Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham calls a special session to try to get SB 17 to her desk before her term as governor expires. Gun owners in the Land of Enchantment aren’t out of the woods yet, but Second Amendment advocates can be assured that the most popular rifles and commonly owned magazines in the nation will remain available for purchase for now. Rest assured, though, the gun control lobby hasn’t given up, and 2A activists can’t led down their guard. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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