Santa Fe City Councilor to Introduce Gun Control Legislation

Santa Fe City Councilor Patti Bushee said today she intends to introduce an ordinance that would ban assault weapons and magazines with “excessive” capacity for automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the city of Santa Fe.

A draft is still in the works – Bushee said she won’t put anything forward until January – but it’s likely to be modeled after gun control legislation Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has indicated she plans to sponsor in Congress. Feinstein wants to limit the sale, transfer and possession of assault weapons, as well as the capacity of high-capacity magazines.

Bushee said she’s researching how a city ban might play out legally. “I need to get a review of state law to see where I am limited,” she admitted.

“I just know that something’s got to be done and I’ll do what I can at the local level,” Bushee said.

City Attorney Geno Zamora told the Journal it’s a “complicated” issue and his office will work with the City Council on it.

The Journal has also learned that Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger is working on a resolution that calls on President Barack Obama and Congress to enact federal legislation to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Bushee said gun control was on her mind even before Friday’s tragic massacre at a Connecticut school in which a gunman used an assault rifle and other weapons to kill 26 children and adults.