A gun rights group sued New Mexico State officials and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Saturday after the governor issued an emergency order banning all firearms from being carried in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque resident Foster Haines sued the state alongside the National Association for Gun Rights after Grisham announced a public health emergency which suspended the right to carry a firearm in public whether concealed or open carry for 30 days.
The group is arguing the order is a violation of the Second Amendment. The plantiffs point to a recent Supreme Court decision which found New York’s concealed carry law to be unconstitutional and instead must be based on historical tradition. (RELATED: ‘Impeach And Remove’: Legal Experts, Conservatives Bash Dem Gov’s Gun Ban)
Grisham told reporters when announcing the order she doesn’t believe any constitutional right “is intended to be absolute.”
“If there’s an emergency, and I’ve declared an emergency for a temporary amount of time, I can invoke additional powers. No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute.”
“As I said yesterday, the time for standard measures has passed,” Grisham said. “And when New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game — when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn — something is very wrong.”
Grisham’s move has drawn condemnation from liberals as well, with Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu tweeting the order blatantly “violates the U.S. Constitution.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) speaks during a news conference with House Democratic leadership at the U.S. Capitol January 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“No state in the union can suspend the federal Constitution” and that “there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”
David Hogg, who survived the Parkland mass shooting and has advocated for gun control, agreed, tweeting, “I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”