Senate passes gun bill after lengthy debate

After a sometimes heated six-hour debate and a few failed amendments, the New Mexico Senate passed a gun bill that aims to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands and ban the sale of certain types of weapons.

With a 21-17 vote, Senate Bill 17 now heads to the House for approval. Sens. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces, Benny Shendo Jr. of Jemez Pueblo and Angel Charley of Acoma Pueblo were the lone "no" votes among Democratic lawmakers.

All Republican senators voted in opposition.

Senate Bill 17 would require licensed gun dealers to keep inventory records and implement security measures, similar to those placed on state-authorized recreational cannabis dispensaries. 

The bill, sponsored by several Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Debbie O'Malley and Heather Berghmans, both of Albuquerque, would also ban the sale or possession of certain "military-grade weapons," including machine guns and gas-operated semiautomatic firearms.

As lawmakers hunkered down for the lengthy debate Saturday, more than 100 people — some with rifles slung across their chests — took part in a Second Amendment rally outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Several Republican legislators, including Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, who donned a necklace of bullet casings fitted with turquoise points, spoke against SB17.

In the Capitol Rotunda, dozens bill supporters gathered to listen to stories from those who lost loved ones to gun violence and advocates with Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. In one speech, Jamie Voita of Farmington choked up remembering her mother-in-law, Shirley Voita, who was killed along with three others by an active shooter.

In a statement after the bill's passage, Senate Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington, said, "Today, Democrats in Santa Fe decided that the rights of New Mexicans to protect themselves and their families should be eliminated."

"Listen to the words they say, they have repeatedly admitted this bill is unconstitutional, yet they are forcing it upon law-abiding citizens," he said. "New Mexicans deserve to be represented by elected officials who take their oaths of office seriously, not by activists who hate our Constitution and who promote fringe radical policies designed to undermine the very foundation of our Nation."

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement that the Senate “took an important step to stop illegal guns from flooding our communities.”

"SB 17 is about holding gun traffickers and bad actors accountable so fewer guns — including dangerous military-grade weapons — end up in the hands of kids and in our neighborhoods," she said. "Moms, students, and families showed up at the Roundhouse today because we’re tired of inaction, and today, lawmakers listened.”

'A gunfight' on the floor

The hourslong debate and proposed amendments covered a wide swath of ground, with discussions ranging from measured and cordial to heated and quarrelsome.

At times, lawmakers described the Senate itself as “a gunfight” and in a separate moment posed hypothetical scenarios of legislators killing each other in self-defense, thanks only to the availability of a gun.

The wide-ranging conversation pondered the perception of weapons all the way back to biblical times, considered how items like a soda can could kill in the right hands and if a 10-year-old should be allowed to work at a gun store.

Two amendments — from Republican Sens. Crystal Brantley of Elephant Butte and Jay Block of Rio Rancho, respectively — sought to strike a section that banned specific types of weapons and, separately, add a clause that would allow a person under 21 to work at a gun store if they took a hunter safety course or were a veteran. Both amendments failed.

In debate, Republicans spoke out loudly against the bill, many echoing each other's sentiments: that the bill violated the Second Amendment and would not deter criminals but only hurt “law-abiding citizens” and gun sellers. They compared rifles to tennis rackets and golf clubs.

Block at one point was asked by Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, to “be respectful” as he grilled O'Malley over whether an AR-15 is a military weapon, countering it is the most popular among citizens.

Sen. David Gallegos, R-Eunice, and Block both said the bill would hurt small businesses by saddling them with additional costs to meet requirements.

Berghmans said, in response, “If you're a responsible business, you have nothing to be concerned about.”

Sen. Jim Townsend, R-Artesia, said the bill did nothing to help public safety.

“This may make you feel good, but don’t get real comfy, because this doesn't do anything to stop crime,” he said.

Gallegos said, without specifics, that he blamed “unruly kids” who shoot into homes and are then released from jail as the problem driving gun violence.

Sharer asked Berghmans if he would be able to keep and use his 30-round magazine. She said yes but told him he couldn't get a second one under the bill.

“By preventing me from having a second magazine, does that make you safer?” Sharer asked. Such extended magazines allow for a gun to fire dozens of rounds and are not necessary for self-defense, Berghmans replied.

“Have you been in a gunfight?” Sharer asked. The tension of the moment was broken by laughter after someone described the Senate as a type of gunfight.

However, the verbal jousting continued.

Sharer asked, has a firearm ever been used for good? Berghmans replied, “it depends on your definition of ‘good.’”

Sharer then posed the question: Does Stewart, whom he referred to as “petite,” think she could fight off Block, or Berghmans, physically. When she replied that she would run away, Sharer asked her to ponder: what if she had a firearm, and “didn’t just have to die at their hands.”

“Now Madame President, you are equal to Rambo, because I promise you Rambo will die if you put a bullet in him – in the right spot.”

After the bill passed, Gallegos was crestfallen.

"This one really hurts," he said in explaining his "no" vote after the passage. "I hope my constituents hold me responsible."

State gun laws, then and now

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has supported several gun laws passed by the Legislature in her tenure, urged for the passage of Senate Bill 17 during her State of the State address.

Since first taking office in 2019, lawmakers have passed bills expanding mandatory background check requirements for gun purchases and allowing guns to be seized from those deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others. 

At least one piece of past legislation, a 2024 law implementing a seven-day waiting period for gun purchases, is in limbo after a Denver-based federal appeals court ruled the law unconstitutional.

Senate Bill 17 bill was prompted by a report issued last year by the New York-based Everytown for Gun Safety that found that, of nearly 5,000 guns used in crimes in New Mexico that were recovered and traced by law enforcement, about 78% were originally bought from licensed firearm dealers, most of them within the state.

The firearm death rate in New Mexico — which has historically had higher than average violent crime rates — was the nation’s fourth-highest as of 2023, according to Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Of the 530 gun-related deaths in the state that year, there were slightly more suicides than homicides. Firearm-related deaths also represented the largest cause of death for state children between the ages of 1 and 17.

In a statement Saturday evening, Lujan Grisham applauded the passage of the bill, saying the legislation, “Holds gun dealers to the same basic standards expected of any responsible business — securing inventory, training employees, and preventing illegal sales.”

“I’m grateful for the Senate’s vote today and I encourage the House to follow suit at the earliest opportunity,” the governor added.