NRA-ILA | New Mexico Legislature Convenes Today and the List of Radical Gun Control Bills is Long!

Dear Second Amendment Supporter:

The New Mexico Legislature convenes TODAY for its 60-day session and progressive, anti-gun lawmakers have already filed a laundry list of extremist gun control proposals that would make Biden and Bloomberg proud.

This week, it is imperative that you contact your State Representatives and urge them to OPPOSE HB 9, HB 50, HB 72, HB 100 & HB 101, and your State Senators and ask them to OPPOSE any new gun control laws. Your NRA-ILA will be fighting these measures at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, but we also need YOU to fully engage in the critical effort to protect your Second Amendment rights in the Land of Enchantment.  Contact information for State Representatives and State Senators will be updated this week. If you don’t know who your state lawmakers are, visit https://www.nmlegis.gov/Members/Find_My_Legislator.

Be on the lookout for alerts in your inbox on when these bills are set for committee hearings and what action items you can take to help stop these attacks on your rights:

1. House Bill 9 by Rep. Pamela Herndon (D-ABQ) creates criminal liability for gun owners if a minor gains access to firearms; no exceptions for consent or authorized use of the firearm, which would have a chilling effect on youth hunting or 4-H and other competitive shooting programs. New Mexico law allows minors to own, possess and use long guns, and even handguns in some cases, for such activities.
2. House Bill 50 by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-ABQ) makes it a felony to transfer or possess any standard capacity magazine capable of holding 10 or more rounds of ammunition. The 9-round limit would be the lowest in the nation and would effectively ban the use of some of the most popular pistols and rifles purchased by New Mexicans.
3. House Bill 72 by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-ABQ) makes it a fourth degree felony to possess or transfer a “semiautomatic firearm converter”, which could include binary triggers (which, when attached to firearms, do not make the firearm a machine gun under federal law). The “definitions” section of the measure is longer than the provisions setting out what activity is actually being criminalized under the act, indicating the bill is confusing and will be difficult to implement or enforce.
4. House Bill 100 by Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) expands New Mexico’s so-called “universal background check” law to include a mandatory 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases. This criminal protection bill would delay your ability to exercise your right to protect yourself from a violent attack. 
5. House Bill 101 by Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) bans the manufacture, possession, purchase, sale or transfer of countless commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns dubbed “assault weapons” under the act, and standard capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition; current owners would be required to move them out of state, sell them to a federal firearm licensed dealer or surrender them to a law enforcement agency prior to July 1, 2023 – or face felony charges.
6. Senate bills in the queue for introduction, but which have not yet been assigned bill numbers: a ban on the carrying of firearms within 100 feet of a polling place during an election (Sen. Peter Wirth; D-Santa Fe); and a prohibition on the purchase or possession of an automatic or semi-automatic firearm by, or the sale of such a firearm to, anyone under the age of 21 (Sen. Bill O’Neill; D-ABQ).