N.M. Delegation Mostly Backs Gun Proposals

WASHINGTON — New Mexico’s congressional delegation offered varied — though mostly positive — reviews of proposals to reduce gun violence that President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday.

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., was the only member of the delegation to embrace Obama’s plan in its entirety. She called the proposals “common sense.”

“These proposals are comprehensive, and Congress should immediately consider and enact them into law,” Lujan Grisham said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve Pearce, the delegation’s lone Republican, was the only New Mexico representative in Congress to reject the president’s plan outright.

“More gun restrictions may allow Washington to congratulate itself, but will never change the sickness and depravity that drive someone to murder indiscriminately,” Pearce said. “Instead, let’s look to our communities, our churches, our doctors and our families: the institutions that do have the power to solve the problem.”

The rest of the delegation offered more nuanced assessments. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, as well as Rep. Ben Ray Luján — all Democrats — endorsed expanded background checks for gun buyers and increased emphasis on mental health. But they stopped short of backing Obama’s call for reinstatement of a so-called assault weapons ban.

Heinrich, an avid hunter, called the president’s gun plan “pragmatic” but said an assault weapons ban isn’t the best approach.

“Rather than trying to get members of Congress to agree on what constitutes an assault weapon and what does not, a reasonable limit on magazine capacity would make much more sense,” Heinrich said in a statement provided to the Journal.

“Keeping guns out of the hands of people legally prohibited from having them is a common-sense way to prevent gun violence,” Heinrich added. “Additionally, expanding background checks and creating serious penalties for selling firearms to criminals are ways to prevent gun violence without punishing law-abiding gun owners.”

Udall said he liked parts of the president’s proposal — including background checks and more enforcement of existing gun laws — but took issue with other elements of the plan.

“I’m not convinced that a sweeping, one-size-fits all model is the right approach for New Mexico, where many law-abiding citizens exercise their constitutional right to bear arms,” Udall said. “What’s best for New York or California, may not serve sportsmen and responsible gun-owners in New Mexico well.”

Luján said he supported Obama’s call for universal background checks on gun buyers, as well as his call to restrict high-capacity magazines, although Luján was initially skeptical of such a proposal.

“While I have expressed concern about limits on magazine capacity in the past, we have seen high-capacity magazines on any gun amplify the amount of destruction and loss of life that can be caused,” Lujan said. “Focusing on the size of magazines is an important step to address these horrific events while taking into account 2nd Amendment rights and our responsibility to promote public safety.”
— This article appeared on page A2 of the Albuquerque Journal