Governor issues order to ban carrying firearms for 30 days

SANTA FE -- Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced a new public health order that, she said, will ban people from carrying firearms, either open or concealed, in Albuquerque and throughout Bernalillo County for the next 30 days, regardless of whether they have a permit.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, issued an executive order Thursday evening declaring gun violence a public health emergency.

During a news conference Friday, she said she expects legal challenges to the public health order and expressed uncertainty about whether the order would prevail in court.

The order states “no person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm ... either openly or concealed, with cities or counties averaging 1,000 or more violent crimes per 100,000 residents per year since 2021.”

The order applies only to the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, Lujan Grisham said, and can only be enforced by New Mexico State Police, whose presence in the state’s largest city would be “significant” over the next month.

Violating the order would likely be a misdemeanor, Lujan Grisham said, and it will have no bearing on private property or at a licensed gun dealer.

The declaration came after a shooting in which an 11-year-old boy was killed near the Isotopes Park in Albuquerque. Police said the incident appeared to be a case of road rage, the fifth such fatal incident in 2023.