Flurry of lawsuits challenge governor’s 30-day firearms ban

Randy Donk, a member of Gun Owners of America, Inc., takes his handgun along while he’s shopping at Walmart, eating Thai food in Albuquerque, and even stepping out the door into his front yard.

Asserting that he doesn’t want to be “disarmed in public,” Donk is among those asking a federal judge in Albuquerque to invalidate a new emergency public health edict enacted last week by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham aimed at addressing escalating gun violence in Bernalillo County.

Meanwhile, gun store owners and sales staff say they are getting many questions about the governor’s order, but no rush in sales of guns or ammunition.

Four federal lawsuits had been filed as of Monday challenging the governor’s 30-day ban on carrying firearms in most public places and on state property. Under the order’s criteria, the right to carry publicly is suspended only in Bernalillo County.

Other groups suing the state over the prohibition include the National Association for Gun Rights, and We The Patriots USA, Inc. The Republican Party of New Mexico said late Monday it was preparing to file a lawsuit.

A hearing on Donk’s request for a temporary restraining order was initially scheduled for Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge David Urias, but then was cancelled. No new hearing date had been set as of Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for New Mexico State Police, which is charged with enforcing the governor’s order, said no one has been cited for violating the public health order as of Monday afternoon. There was no response to a Journal email asking for more details.

Lujan Grisham, responding to the fatal shooting of three children under 14 in the past six weeks in New Mexico, told the New York Times last weekend that gun violence was an “epidemic” and she expected legal challenges.

Under the order’s criteria, the ban against carrying firearms openly or concealed in public spaces only applies to Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, and in addition, state property, public schools and public parks throughout New Mexico. Those wishing to carry guns while traveling must keep the firearms in locked containers or locked with a firearm safety device, like a trigger lock. Residents with gun permits can still have weapons on private property. Law enforcement and security guards would be exempt.

Donk, joined in his lawsuit by the Gun Owners of America, Inc., and Gun Owners Foundation, contend the order deprives “law-abiding gun owners of their only means of self-defense from criminal attack while in public.” His affidavit states that he carries his handgun every day.

The governor and state Department of Health Secretary Patrick Allen “have asserted the unilateral power to suspend constitutional rights and impose what is essentially martial law,” stated his motion for a temporary restraining order.

“I fully intend to ignore these orders, because they are clearly unlawful and categorically unconstitutional,” wrote Donk in an affidavit.

But Lujan Grisham found an ally in Rev. John C. Wester, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, who issued a statement Monday saying in part, “the number of gun deaths we witness here is deplorable and tragic. In my view, the governor has been consistent in addressing gun safety through legislation and is not now attacking the Second Amendment. She knows the law.

“Rather, I believe she is trying to get us to solve what has become a crisis in our state. The focus should be on the sanctity of human life. That is the point. I hope to hear more of an outcry over an 11-year-old boy killed by a bullet fired in a road-rage incident than over the right to carry a gun.”

Albuquerque police are still searching for those responsible for the fatal shooting Sept. 6 of a boy traveling with his family in a car leaving an Isotopes baseball game. Another passenger in the car was critically injured.

Donk in his lawsuit contended he was risking, “if arrested,” the loss of his ability to volunteer with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

But the order mentions only civil penalties up to $5,000.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico said in a statement, “We are closely monitoring the legal challenges to this executive order, recognizing that many people in our state are focused on the section related to firearms.”

But other aspects of the governor’s order, such as making $750,000 available for increased state law enforcement efforts, are concerning, the ACLU stated.

“This kind of approach leads to the over-policing of our communities, racial profiling, and increased misery in the lives of already marginalized people,” said Lalita Moskowitz, litigation manager for the ACLU of New Mexico. “The governor should be following evidence-based solutions such as meaningful diversion and violence intervention programs and addressing the root causes of violence.”

Gun owner concerns

Emma Antal, a staff member at Calibers in the 5300 block of Cutler NE, said she expected to see a bump in sales in response to the governor’s order. But if anything, Calibers has experienced a slight dip in sales, she said.

“The past couple days have been kind of slow,” Antal said Monday. “It’s definitely been slow on the shooting range.” But customers have questions about whether they can bring guns to the range and how they can transport them.

Calibers has always asked customers to bring firearms in a case and out of public view, Antal said.

The public health order calls for owners to transport guns “in a locked container or locked with a firearm safety device that renders the firearm inoperable, such as a trigger lock.”

Mark Abramson, owner of the Los Ranchos Gun Shop, said many people are calling and visiting his store with questions and concerns.

“People are coming in and asking a lot of questions about what is the impact — what they can do and can’t do,” Abramson said. “People are very concerned because they don’t know and it has made national news.”

Many of the questions pertain to transporting guns by car, he said. “Can I no longer have an unsecured gun — that is, a loaded gun — in my car?”

Abramson said he tries to answer questions as well as possible given the many unknowns about the order. He noted that local law enforcement officials have expressed unwillingness to enforce the ban.

“It’s sort of uncharted waters,” he said. “We have always told people that your car is an extension of your home and I don’t think (Lujan Grisham) can change what your home is.”

But few people are snapping up guns in response to the health order, he said.

“We haven’t seen people buying (guns) because they want to thumb their nose at the governor,” he said. “Most people already have their firearms.”