New York News
A federal judge in New Mexico on Wednesday blocked Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s recent suspension of certain gun rights in Albuquerque and its surrounding county.
U.S. District Judge David Urias granted a temporary restraining order after a hearing Wednesday afternoon.
The directive from Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, sparked at least a half-dozen lawsuits. Opponents have argued that the 30-day ban on the right to carry open or concealed firearms in public in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County was in violation of the Second Amendment.
Hannah Hill, the executive director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights, one of the plaintiffs in the case before the court Wednesday, said she was “thrilled” that Urias had blocked “the governor’s wildly unconstitutional public health gun ban.”
Lujan Grisham vowed to keep fighting, calling gun violence and drug abuse “acute threats to public health and safety in this state.”
“I refuse to be resigned to the status quo,” she said in a statement after the ruling. “I call on leaders across the state, from local law enforcement to the Legislature to mayors and county commissioners: Stand with me to enact solutions that save people’s lives. Throwing up our hands is not an option.”
Lujan Grisham issued the order Friday, arguing it was necessary to curb a spike in gun violence and illegal drug use in the area. The announcement last week noted that she was taking the step after the shooting deaths of a 13-year-old girl on July 28, a 5-year-old girl on Aug. 14 and an 11-year-old boy on Sept. 6, as well as two mass shootings.
The order sparked bipartisan backlash, with state Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, notifying Lujan Grisham in a letter Tuesday that his office would not defend the order in court. “Simply put,