New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an emergency public health order on Friday that prohibits open and concealed carry of weapons in Albuquerque for 30 days.
The Democratic governor said she expects legal challenges but felt forced to act in reaction to gun tragedies, including the killing of an 11-year-old kid this week outside a minor league baseball stadium.
The suspension of weapons is linked to a violent crime rate criteria that the Albuquerque area currently satisfies. The interim restriction on carrying guns does not apply to police officers.
The constraints, according to Lujan Grisham, “are going to pose incredible challenges for me as a governor and as a state.”
“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” she said at a news conference, flanked by leading law enforcement officials, including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area.
Lujan Grisham mentioned a number of recent shootings in Albuquerque.
Among them was a road rage shooting outside a minor league baseball stadium on Wednesday, which killed 11-year-old Froyland Villegas and badly injured a lady after their vehicle was blasted with bullets as fans left an evening game.
Galilea Samaniego, 5, was fatally shot while sleeping in a mobile home last month.
According to authorities, four teenagers entered the mobile home community in two stolen automobiles shortly before 6 a.m. on Aug. 13 and started fire on the trailer. The girl was hit in the head and died in the hospital.
Amber Archuleta, 13, was shot and killed in Taos County in August, according to the governor. While they were at his house, a 14-year-old boy shot and murdered the girl using his father’s gun.
