New Mexico Senate Could Soon Consider Two-Week Gun Purchase Delay Bill & Junk Lawsuits Against the Firearms Industry

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023

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On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee rushed to vote out Senate Bill 427 and took no further action on Senate Bill 428 (but that bill is expected to be brought back up again during their Friday meeting at 1:30pm or upon adjournment in Room 321 – continue to check here for details and the committee’s zoom link: https://www.nmlegis.gov/Calendar/Session).

Senate Bill 427 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), imposes a 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases, with an exception for concealed handgun licensees. This measure will add nothing to the existing FBI background check process and will only delay your ability to exercise your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, your family and your property. This makes for the longest firearms purchase waiting period in the entire country! It also applies when you go to a federal firearms licensed dealer (FFL) to be transferred a firearm you ordered. For more information on this proposal, click here.

Senate Bill 428 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) creates a hostile climate for lawful firearm-related industries and transactions by facilitating an increasing amount of litigation and claims, with vastly increased liability exposure and civil penalties, for even minor suspected violations of the terms of an FFL or the law as the basis for Unfair Trade Practices Act proceedings. For more information on this bill, click here.

Contact your State Senators and urge them to OPPOSE SB 427 & SB 428.

House Bill 100 – Another 14-Day Firearm Purchase Delay Bill – Could Soon Be Considered by the New Mexico House

Contact your State Representatives and tell them you OPPOSE HB 100 and waiting periods for law-abiding gun buyers.

There are now just ten days left in the 2023 legislative session. On the house side, HB9, the bill that would impose criminal penalties on a gun owner if a third-party minor uses their gun to commit a crime or injure someone, wasn’t voted on by the floor today. We expect it to be heard soon, so help us keep up the pressure against it. SB44, the bill that would ban the carrying of open and concealed firearms with 100ft of a polling place while voting is taking place, was passed on party lines out of the House Judiciary Committee. That bill is now headed to the House Floor for a vote by all members of the house. In the Senate Judiciary Committee, SB427, the senate version of a 14-day waiting period for gun purchases, was passed on a party-line vote of the senators present. It now heads to the Senate Floor. SB428, the bill to make it easier to sue gun manufacturers and retailers in New Mexico, was heard in committee, but not voted on. That bill stays in the Senate Judiciary Committee where we expect it to be voted on in their Friday meeting. The next ten days are critical. No anti-Second Amendment bills have passed yet, but the governor is pushing hard for her anti-gun and anti-freedom agenda. It has been a long session, but we have to keep doing everything we can until sine die.

Several anti-Second Amendment bills are scheduled to be heard tomorrow. First, we have been told that HB9 will be heard on the Floor of the House again for a concurrence vote. The bill would impose criminal penalties on a gun owner if a minor uses their firearm to commit a crime or hurt someone. The concurrence vote has to take place as it was amended on the senate side after passing the house side. You can use this link to send a pre-drafted email to state representatives asking them to oppose the bill. Second, the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing SB44 tomorrow. The bill would ban the carrying of firearms, both open and concealed, within 100ft of a polling place while voting is taking place. The committee will also be hearing HB306 which would replicate federal straw purchase law in New Mexico state law – a straw purchase is the act of purchasing a firearm from a FFL with the intent of giving it, or selling it, to someone the purchaser knows is a prohibited possessor. The committee meeting will start at 1:30pm, or later, in Room 309 (Zoom Link). Third, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing both SB427 and SB428. SB427 is another version of a 14-day waiting period for firearm purchases. Here is a pre-drafted email opposing SB427. SB428 would make it easier to sue gun manufacturers and retailers in New Mexico. At the bill’s first committee hearing, several New Mexico gun store owners testified they would not be able to obtain insurance to operate in New Mexico if the bill passes. Here is a pre-drafted email opposing SB428. The committee meeting will start at 1:30pm, or 1/2 hour after the end of the senate floor session, in Room 321 (Zoom Link). To provide testimony to the committee or to sign up to testify, please email: SJC.Zoom@nmlegis.gov  We have less then two weeks left in the 2023 legislative session. We must keep up the pressure against all bad bills if we are going to stop them. Both HB100 and HB101 have been sitting dormant for a few weeks now, but they are still alive and could be voted on anytime. Please help us keep up the pressure against the bills.

New Mexico: Waiting Period and Firearms Industry Lawsuit Bills on Deck Again in Senate Committee on Wednesday!

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2023

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House Bill 101 (Semi-Auto Ban & Magazine Limit Bill NOT on House Judiciary Committee Agenda for Wednesday)

On Wednesday, March 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold public hearings on two extreme measures that target law-abiding citizens and the firearms industry:

Senate Bill 427 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), imposes a 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases, with an exception for concealed handgun licensees. Like House Bill 100, this measure will add nothing to the existing FBI background check process and will only delay your ability to exercise your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, your family and your property. This would make for the longest firearms purchase waiting period in the entire country!  For more information on this proposal, click here.

Senate Bill 428 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) creates a hostile climate for lawful firearm-related industries and transactions by facilitating an increasing amount of litigation and claims, with vastly increased liability exposure and civil penalties, for even minor suspected violations of the terms of an FFL or the law as the basis for Unfair Trade Practices Act proceedings. For more information on this bill, click here. This legislation was significantly amended in committee; we will report back to you on the impact these changes have on the bill and what action items need to be taken on the measure.

* Make plans to attend the committee hearing via zoom or in-person. The committee will meet at 1:30pm or upon adjournment of the Senate in Room 321 of the Roundhouse.  For public participation and to register for Zoom send an email to SJC.Zoom@nmlegis.gov. Include the bill number, that you’re an opponent and if you will be attending in person or via zoom. To attend meeting via Zoom click the following link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81502543362. 
Meeting ID: 815 0254 3362 
Zoom Call: 1-253-205-0468.

* Contact SJC Committee members and urge them to OPPOSE SB 427 and SB 428.  

* Click here to contact your State Senators in opposition to SB 427 in anticipation of a Senate floor vote.

Also on Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will consider Senate Bill 44 by Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), a measure banning the carrying of firearms within 100ft of any polling locations on Election Day or during early voting, even by concealed handgun licensees. These new “gun-free” zones apply not only to voters, but also to customers who visit or park at shopping centers and stores that serve as polling locations. 

* Make plans to attend the committee hearing via zoom or in-person.  The committee will meet at 1:30pm or upon adjournment of the House in Room 309 of the Roundhouse.  You may also participate in this hearing via Zoom.  Please click on this link to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81793611432 or use One Tap Mobile to call in: US: +12532050468,,81793611432# or +12532158782,,81793611432#​

Please contact members of the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to OPPOSE SB 44.

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New Mexico: Waiting Period & Gun Industry Lawsuit Legislation Advancing In Senate     House Bill 101 (Semi-Auto Ban & Magazine Limit Bill NOT on House Judiciary Committee Agenda Today!) On Sunday, March 5, the Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee voted out two extreme measures that target law-abiding citizens and the firearms industry: Senate Bill 427 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), imposes a 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases, with an exception for concealed handgun licensees. Like House Bill 100, this measure will add nothing to the existing FBI background check process and will only delay your ability to exercise your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, your family and your property. This would make for the longest firearms purchase waiting period in the entire country!  For more information on this proposal, click here. Senate Bill 428 by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) creates a hostile climate for lawful firearm-related industries and transactions by facilitating an increasing amount of litigation and claims, with vastly increased liability exposure and civil penalties, for even minor suspected violations of the terms of an FFL or the law as the basis for Unfair Trade Practices Act proceedings. For more information on this bill, click here. This legislation was significantly amended in committee; we will report back to you on the impact these changes have on the bill and what action items need to be taken on the measure. For now, these bills move to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration next.  Here’s what you can do NOW to help stop SB 427: * Contact SJC Committee members and urge them to OPPOSE SB 427.  NRA-ILA will notify you when this bill is scheduled for a public hearing. Click here to contact your State Senators in opposition to SB 427 in anticipation of a Senate floor vote. FOLLOW NRA-ILA © 2022 National Rifle Association of America, Institute For Legislative Action. To contact NRA-ILA call 800-392-8683. Address: 11250 Waples Mill Road Fairfax, Virginia 22030. Thank you!

We now have less than two weeks to go in the 2023 New Mexico Legislative Session. We found out today that HB101 will be not heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, but it could be heard later in the week, so be on the lookout for our alerts. The bill would ban the sale of semiautomatic rifles in New Mexico and require current owners to register them with the state. HB100, the house version of a 14-day waiting period for firearm sales, still hasn’t been heard on the House Floor yet. This means we have to keep up the pressure against the bill. You can use this link to send a pre-drafted email to your state representative asking them to oppose the bill. Today in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee, both SB427 and SB428 were passed on party-line votes of the senators present. SB427 is another version of a 14-day waiting period. SB428, while amended today to try to make it fall in line with the Federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, would still target gun manufacturers and retailers with lawsuits over the criminal acts of third-parties. We remain firmly opposed to the bill. The next stop for both bills is the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Opinion by David Freddoso • Yesterday 3:03 PM

In New Orleans, a former Innocence Project lawyer named Emily Maw is currently serving as an assistant district attorney. And it is going about as well as you would expect.

No point passing gun control if you don’t prosecute gun crimes.© Provided by Washington Examiner

Maw is now the focus of controversy for declining to press charges in at least 15 gun crimes that occurred over the Mardi Gras season. These crimes included at least one egregious case in which the defendant was carrying around a machine gun — a federal crime that carries a lengthy prison sentence. That particular defendant also had prior convictions, according to local news reports.

Yet instead of prosecuting these crimes, Maw let these defendants off the hook, on the condition that they surrender their guns.

There’s a big problem with this approach. You remember that old saw about how guns don’t kill people, people kill people? Well, it’s not just some NRA talking point. It’s actually true.

When someone waves a gun around in public, it is not just about the gun. It is about the person’s character. People who do things like that are dangerous. They need to suffer consequences in order to learn that human life has value and that they can’t just go around putting people in danger like that.

Maw might think she’s accomplished something by getting a gun off the street, but in fact, she hasn’t because those guns didn’t commit crimes — the defendants did. There are more privately owned guns in this country than there are people. What Maw has done is guarantee that dangerous, careless, or even wicked people to whom she could have taught a lesson will once again get their hands on guns and do something perhaps much worse next time.

Reckless behavior with guns is no laughing matter. Even where long prison sentences would not be appropriate as punishments, the suspension of a defendant’s gun rights might be. Never forget that the Michigan State mass shooter was at liberty to kill, and able to pass a background check and buy a gun legally only because some bleeding-heart prosecutor pleaded him down to a misdemeanor for his earlier felony gun crime.

Most red states with relaxed gun laws don’t have serious gun problems, despite what Democrats say. For example, FBI data show that you are almost twice as likely to be murdered with a gun and four times as likely to be robbed with a gun in Rhode Island as you are in Idaho, where even the hippies open-carry.

But Louisiana is one of those red states that does have a very serious gun homicide problem — the worst of any state in the country, in fact. Under those circumstances, there is no excuse for failing to throw the book at anyone who breaks existing gun laws.

You remember that other old saw, about enforcing the laws on the books before you pass new gun control? That’s not just a talking point, either. If you don’t go after people who commit such crimes — who make straw purchases or wave guns around at public pre-Lenten celebrations — you can’t pretend to be taking the issue of gun violence seriously. Liberals love to hold attention-seeking press conferences where they call for useless, irrelevant new laws that won’t stop gun violence or mass shootings (but will harass law-abiding gun owners). But they are strangely squeamish when it comes to prosecuting people who flagrantly break existing gun laws, as in this case.

Prosecutors like Maw — the kind who view themselves as advocates for the defendants instead of representatives of the state — just need to be fired anyway, irrespective of the gun issue. But the more important problem in Louisiana is that someone needs to crack down on violations of existing gun laws.

It is one thing to show mercy to small-time defendants when their crimes put no one in danger. But messing around with guns is no joke. It is not the job of the prosecutor to let people off the hook for careless actions that show they have little regard for the lives and safety of the people around them.

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Tags: Beltway Confidential, Opinion

Original Author: David Freddoso

Original Location: No point passing gun control if you don’t prosecute gun crimes.

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Today’s legislative action got off to a wild start when the governor threatened to hold a special session to focus on gun control if the legislature doesn’t pass her priority bills. Her threat was noted in the Senate Finance Committee where HB9, the bill that would impose criminal penalties on a gun owner if a third-party minor uses their gun to commit a crime or injure someone, was scheduled to be heard this morning. Senate Finance rolled the bill over in their morning meeting, but did end up hearing HB9 this afternoon where it passed on party-lines. The bill now heads to the floor of the senate for a vote by the full senate. In the Senate Judiciary Committee, SB116 was heard after sitting dormant in the committee for weeks. The bill would ban the purchase and possession of semiautomatic firearms by anyone under the age of 21. After some lively debate, a motion to table the bill failed on a bipartisan vote of 4-4. Then, a motion to pass the bill also failed on a bipartisan 4-4 vote. This means the bill stays in Senate Judiciary for now, but can be brought back again. Not all committee members were present at the meeting. The governor pushed hard to have HB100, the proposed 14-day waiting period for gun purchases, heard on the floor of the house today. But thanks to the pushback against the bill from New Mexicans from across the state, the bill wasn’t called up for a vote today. HB101, the ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles and registration of currently owned ones, is still waiting to be brought up again in the House Judiciary Committee. We know that the governor is pushing very hard behind the scenes for both of these bills, so we are watching them closely right now.

Today’s action in Santa Fe saw three bad results and one good one. First, this morning in the House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee, SB44, the ban on carrying an open or concealed firearm within 100ft of a polling place, passed on a party-line vote. That bill now heads to the House Judiciary Committee. The second committee meeting was today’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. The first bill they heard was HB9, the bill that imposes criminal penalties on a gun owner if a minor commits a crime or hurts someone with their gun. The bill passed on a party-line vote, but it was amended several times in the committee. Some of the changes were good, some were bad, but it will have to return to the House side for concurrence if it passes the Senate side. The next stop for the bill is the Senate Finance Committee. The second gun bill the committee heard was SB114, a bill we supported. SB114 would have updated New Mexico’s concealed carry laws for the changes to New Mexico’s liquor laws that were made in 2021. The bill would have expanded the types of alcohol a restaurant could serve and still allow patrons to concealed carry in it. That bill was tabled on a party-line vote. Finally, in the good result of the day, SB171, the ban on the sale or transfer of many types of ammunition, NFA Firearms and certain semiautomatic pistols, was tabled in the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 6-3 vote. Three Democrats joined the Republicans on the committee in voting to table the bill. A tabled bill can be brought back up again, but at this point in the session, doing so is unlikely. Nevertheless, we will continue to watch the bill for the remainder of the session. There are still a lot of bills we are watching, while none are scheduled for committee or floor votes at the moment, that can change very quickly. Please take the time to contact your State Representative to ask them to oppose HB100, the proposed 14-day waiting period for gun purchases. Here is a link to a pre-drafted email opposing the bill.