New Mexico
New Mexico governor's gun restriction orders to be reviewed by state Supreme Court
- Gun rights advocates are urging the New Mexico Supreme Court to block emergency orders by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham restricting guns.
- The legal standoff is part of a broader trend, with challenges to gun restrictions emerging following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that expanded gun rights.
- Petitioners argue that the governor has exceeded her authority by infringing on the Second Amendment.
Advocates for gun rights are urging the New Mexico Supreme Court to block emergency orders by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham restricting people from carrying guns at public parks and playgrounds in the state’s largest metro area and address gun violence as a public health crisis.
The state Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments Monday in a lawsuit brought by Republican state legislators, the National Rifle Association and several residents of the Albuquerque area that include retired law enforcement officers, former federal agents, licensed firearms instructors and a gun-shop owner.
The state’s legal standoff is one of many — from an Illinois ban on high-powered rifles to location-based restrictions in New York — since a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year expanded gun rights and as leaders in politically liberal-leaning states explore new avenues for restrictions. A California law was set to take effect Jan. 1 banning firearms in most public places, but a legal challenge has held up implementation.
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Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, first invoked the orders in response to a spate of shootings that included the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks on Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Advocates for gun rights are urging the state Supreme Court to block emergency orders by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that suspends the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in New Mexico’s largest metro area by treating gun violence as a public health crisis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The petitioners say Lujan Grisham has overstepped her authority as governor in violation of the Second Amendment and that gun violence and drug abuse don’t qualify as public health emergencies that can limit access to firearms even temporarily.
They accuse the governor of infringing on the Legislature’s authority and overriding gun regulations that have been refined over the course of more than a century, including concealed handgun laws. The state Republican and Libertarian parties also support the legal challenge.
In defining what constitutes a public health emergency, the governor asserts that both gun violence and drug abuse “comfortably fall within” the category because of extremely dangerous conditions posed by weapons and toxic chemical agents posing an imminent threat to many New Mexico residents.
The temporary orders don’t violate constitutional rights, she said.
US JUDGE UPHOLDS NEW MEXICO GOV. GRISHAM’S SUSPENSION ON GUN-CARRY RIGHTS IN PUBLIC PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS
Separately, a federal judge has allowed enforcement of the gun provision to continue while legal challenges run their course. The October ruling by U.S. District Judge David Urias marked a victory for Lujan Grisham.
The governor’s orders, first issued on Sept. 8, 2023, sparked public protests among gun rights advocates and additional legal challenges in federal court that are still underway.
Initial restrictions on carrying guns were scaled back from the original order that broadly suspended the right to carry guns in most public places, which the Bernalillo County sheriff and Albuquerque’s police chief had refused to enforce.
The governor’s health order includes directives for gun buyback efforts, monthly inspections of firearms dealers statewide, reports on gunshot victims at New Mexico hospitals and wastewater testing for indication of illicit drug use at public schools.
Longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre resigned before Monday’s start of a civil trial in New York over allegations he treated himself to lavish perks at the expense of the powerful gun rights group.
The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.
SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.
Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images
Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.
Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.
There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.
After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.
It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.
Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.
Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:
- Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
- Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
- New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).
What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.
That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.
With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.
New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.
But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.
Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.
What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.
Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility
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