Lawmakers should convene extraordinary session on crime, whether gov is on board or not (New Mexico)

Following her unilateral diktat on Sept. 8 to ban all citizens from carrying firearms anywhere in Bernallio County for 30 days, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a revised public health order on Friday.

The governor’s withdrawal of the wider ban comes after a national backlash and after U.S. District Judge David Urias sided with Second Amendment rights supporters on Wednesday and issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of the wider gun ban.

It’s worth noting that Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate rejected numerous proposals to fight crime in the 2023 session. House Republicans introduced 10 crime bills but all were killed by Democratic lawmakers, even though some of those bills had bipartisan support.

House Republicans on Friday called on the governor to immediately convene a special session to address crime.

But in true form, Lujan Grisham said Friday she has no plans yet to call a special session.

So, violent crime is bad enough to abuse public health powers and ban guns, but not serious enough to involve lawmakers. The governor continues to prefer to go it alone.

Lujan Grisham can’t be relied upon to lead a crime-fighting effort. She’s too partisan, too unpopular with state lawmakers, too self-absorbed, too interested in scoring political points, too discredited now on the national stage after her unconstitutional overreach, and too politically ambitious on a national level to shape solid bipartisan solutions that could really make a difference here in New Mexico.

Going it alone may seem like the easiest path for the governor — whether it be the coronavirus pandemic, CYFD reform, upending standardized testing in schools, spending more than $1 billion in federal pandemic funds, electric vehicle mandates or banning guns. But when you go it alone, there’s no one behind you.

Lujan Grisham's amended gun ban will now only apply to “public parks and playgrounds” in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. But that too is also illegal and unconstitutional. Besides, in the case of city park open spaces, there are hiking trails in the Sandia Mountains foothills where there are rattlesnakes, cougars and bears, predators different from the two-legged kind but who can be just as dangerous.

House Republicans on Friday issued a call for action on 10 crime bills that were introduced in the recent session. Below are summaries of those bills as provided by the Journal (all House and Senate committees are Democrat controlled):

House Bill 509 would have provided a clear process for presenting cases when the defendant should be detained prior to trial. The pretrial detention presumption was killed in its first committee.
House Joint Resolution 9 would have allowed the Legislature to set conditions under which defendants may be denied bail. It was killed in its second committee.
House Bill 58 would have added 12 additional violent offenses to the list of qualifying charges for New Mexico’s 3 Strikes Law. It was killed in its first committee.
House Bill 59 would have made the unlawful carrying of a firearm while trafficking a controlled substance a third-degree felony. It was killed in its first committee.
House Bill 60 would have created a sentencing enhancement for fentanyl possession: three years for 24-49 pills, five years for 50-74 pills, and seven years for greater than 75 pills. It was killed in its first committee.
House Bill 61 would have increased the sentence for a felon being in possession of a firearm from three years to six years, and up to six years if the felony offense constituted a violent offense. It was killed in its first committee.
House Bill 155 would have made the crime of aggravated battery against a peace officer a second-degree felony — punishable by nine years and up to $10,000 fine — instead of a third-degree felony punishable by three years in prison and a $5,000 fine, if the battery inflicts great bodily harm or is done with a deadly weapon or in any way that inflicts great bodily harm or death. It passed the House by a 61-0 vote, but died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
House Bill 341 would have required courts to determine if a criminal may require drug, alcohol, or mental health treatment, and order the defendant to seek that treatment. It died in the House Health & Human Services Committee.
House Bill 458 would have increased the penalty for a felon in possession of a firearm or destructive device from three years imprisonment to five years imprisonment, and seven years for a violent felon. It never got a hearing.
House Bill 485 would have enhanced penalties for sexual exploitation of children. It was killed in its first committee.

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