Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just lost the first major battle over her illegal suspension of gun rights in New Mexico.
A judge put a temporary injunction in place after arguments concluded in the courtroom, finding that the order to suspend open and concealed carry rights in “high crime” areas was likely unconstitutional.
🚨BREAKING🚨
In a HUGE WIN thanks to NAGR’s lawsuit, a New Mexico Judge has issued a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER on the Governor’s executive order banning the public carrying of firearms in Albuquerque and the surrounding county.
Join the fight here: https://t.co/9vF5enc960 pic.twitter.com/c8bfol9UOf
— National Association for Gun Rights (@NatlGunRights) September 13, 2023
The injunction will stay in place for 14 days, during which both sides will be allowed to make motions. After that, a decision on whether to extend the injunction or make a ruling will be made. For now, New Mexican gun rights are secured.
According to reports, the governor’s lawyer started to get noticeably animated in the courtroom at one point and likely didn’t help Lujan Grisham’s case.
The governor’s lawyer is starting to raise her voice, saying the governor thinks the Second Amendment doesn’t trump people’s “right to walk down the street.” Says the judge should wait 30 days to see if the order reduces crime.
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) September 13, 2023
The idea that law-abiding gun owners who are following state laws on open and concealed carry are a threat to people walking down the street is nonsense. It’s the kind of ridiculous false dichotomy that the left always tries to push in regard to guns. Regardless, it is flatly untrue to state that the Second Amendment is somehow subservient to public safety concerns. That’s not how the Constitution works. Governments, federal or state, can’t simply decide that an enumerated right poses a threat and suspend it.
That the governor’s legal team would even try to make that argument shows how little thought was put into the illegal order. It’s becoming more and more obvious that Lujan Grisham acted on impulse and ended up in a corner she doesn’t know how to escape. You could tell by her initial press conference and subsequent social media posts that she simply has no idea how to actually defend what she has done, not legally or morally.
I don’t have a crystal ball, but it looks like Lujan Grisham destroyed her political career for a cheap stunt. It’s going to be exceptionally tough for her to run for the U.S. Senate or the presidency with this now on her resume. Even Democrats have abandoned her, and voters will never be able to trust her judgment again.
If the outcome is indeed that Lujan Grisham has spent her last term in office as an elected official, that will be a punishment more than earned. A politician who is willing to sign an illegal order that suspends enumerated rights is willing to do just about anything, and that’s a scary proposition. Run, don’t walk, to keep people like that out of public office.
