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Tuesday, February 02, 2010
NRA: Let Guns Into Eateries in N.M.
By Deborah Baker
Journal Staff Writer
Sen. George Munoz knows what can happen when you leave your gun in the car.
His was stolen recently, he said, when his sister-in-law borrowed his SUV for a trip to a Las Vegas, Nev., trade show.
The gun was snatched from the Suburban's locked center console while it was in a parking garage.
"If you leave guns in vehicles, they're going to be stolen," the Gallup Democrat said.
But does that warrant a change in state law to allow handguns in hundreds of New Mexico restaurants?
The National Rifle Association thinks so. It's promoting a bill that would make it legal for people with concealed carry licenses to take their weapons into restaurants that sell beer and wine.
Requiring people to leave their guns in their vehicles and hope they're still there after dinner is a "huge mistake," says Steve Aikens of Clovis, who teaches NRA-sponsored firearms courses as well as classes for concealed carry licensees.
"It's not the firearm that's the problem. The problem is the criminal with the firearm," Aikens said.
Under Munoz's proposal, it would remain illegal for gun-toters to drink. And they still couldn't go into a bar — or a restaurant with a full liquor license — while carrying.
That's scant reassurance for restaurant owners who don't like the prospect of patrons packing.
"We think guns and liquor don't mix," said Carol Wight, chief executive officer of the 1,100-member New Mexico Restaurant Association.
Wight said restaurant owners worry about liability issues and putting more pressure on servers who have no way of knowing whether they're serving alcohol to someone with a handgun.
"This is just the beginning," she also predicted. "Next year, the bill will be talking about guns in restaurants with full liquor licenses."
A bill last year, also sponsored by Munoz, came close to making it through the Legislature.
This year's bill (SB40) has cleared the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Aikens said New Mexico is one of seven concealed carry states that prohibit carrying guns into restaurants where alcohol is served. Forty-one others allow it in some fashion, he said.
He argues that concealed carry licensees are law-abiding citizens who have had background checks, fingerprinting and training and know they can't drink while carrying.
Even with the proposed change in the law, restaurants would still have the right to post a notice banning firearms, he said.
According to the state Department of Public Safety, more than 17,000 New Mexicans have been issued concealed carry licenses since 2004.
"The introduction of a firearm, legal or otherwise, into an environment where alcohol is consumed is inherently dangerous," the department is quoted as saying in an analysis of Munoz's bill prepared for legislators.
Gov. Bill Richardson — who's licensed for concealed carry — put Munoz's measure on the agenda for this short session "to allow the issue to be debated," according to a spokesman.
"That does not mean the governor supports or opposes the idea," said Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Richardson.
Last year's bill started out allowing concealed carry in all restaurants that serve liquor but was amended in the House to restrict it to beer- and wine-serving eateries. As a nod to political reality, that's how it was introduced this year.
Aikens acknowledges that if the bill were to pass, its supporters could well be back after a few years — once it had proved it worked — seeking to expand it to all restaurants.
"Three years down the road? Very possibly," he said.
"We feel like people should be able to protect themselves lawfully wherever they are," said Rachel Parsons, an NRA spokeswoman.
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