With the case challenging New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s carry ban soon to be heard, many pro-gun organizations are filing briefs. The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), an organization dedicated to winning the battle for the Second Amendment in courtrooms across the country, filed its appellant opening brief with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 1.
“The Governor’s restrictions are particularly perverse because they prohibit individuals in locations such as parks and playgrounds—that Defendants assert are ‘vulnerable’—from arming themselves for their own defense and the defense of their children and grandchildren,” the brief in the case Fort v. Grisham states. “That flatly contradicts the Founding-era solution, which was to ensure that all members of ‘the people’ were armed, to protect not only themselves but also the ‘vulnerable’ in society who are incapable of armed self-defense.
“The Governor’s carry restrictions violate the Second Amendment and should be enjoined.”
Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s vice president and general counsel, and counsel for FPC, said in a news alert that the executive order does nothing to help, but much to hurt New Mexico citizens.
“Governor Grisham’s so-called ‘emergency order’ is, in truth, nothing more than an unconstitutional executive fiat preventing peaceable New Mexicans from protecting themselves, their loved ones, and their community,” Wisniewski said. “Perhaps the most offensive feature of the governor’s order is that it prohibits licensed New Mexicans from possessing arms in areas that the government has identified as places at risk for attacks by criminals.
“In other words, the governor is intentionally seeking to disarm peaceable New Mexicans in the place where those individuals need protection the most. We look forward to the Court putting an end to this morally bankrupt executive fiat.”
FPC, along with the Second Amendment Foundation and New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, filed the brief after Gov. Grisham signed, then re-signed, an executive order banning carry in public parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County.
Her original order banned carry anywhere in those counties. However, the threat of lawsuits from FPC and other pro-gun organizations immediately following the announcement forced her to quickly back down and include only public parks and playgrounds in the ban.
“This is not the first time Gov. Grisham has abused her emergency powers to violate the rights of peaceable people,” FPC’s Wisniewski said at the time. “Just as we did during the pandemic, we look forward to ending yet another of the governor’s tyrannical orders.”