I know that New Mexico doesn’t have a lot of water, all things considered–yes, I’ve been there, and it’s a beautiful state that I considered going back to until recently–but there’s something in that water that needs to be studied, because it’s making people stupid.
As Cam noted on Monday, New Mexico’s Senate just passed a gun control bill that would ban many popular semiautomatic firearms and standard capacity magazines. SB 17 is currently scheduled for its first committee hearing on Wednesday in the House Commerce and Economic Development committee.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is…less than pleased by this development.
From a press release:
Anti-gun-rights Democrats—this time in New Mexico—are once again trying to reduce violent gun-related crime by penalizing people who aren’t responsible, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says in response.
“Senate Bill 17, which was passed by state Senate Democrats over the weekend, would ban semi-automatic firearms and original capacity magazines,” said CCRKBA Managing Director Andrew Gottlieb, “but it’s not going to prevent criminals from committing crimes. All this does s create the false impression that Democrats are doing something, when in reality they’re not accomplishing anything at all, except for adding burdens to firearms retailers and the law-abiding gun owners they serve.
“Proponents of this legislation have resorted to the usual inflammatory rhetoric we’ve come to expect, by calling these firearms and magazines ‘weapons of war,’” Gottlieb stated. “Tens of millions of law-abiding American citizens, including many New Mexicans, own such firearms and magazines, and they’re not a danger to anyone.”
The legislation, which may be read here, spans 17 pages. It passed on a 22-17 vote, with two Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against it.
“According to the World Population Review,” Gottlieb noted, “New Mexico is in the middle in terms of overall gun ownership, ranking 25th among the fifty states. It is astonishing that this sort of legislation is being pushed to the detriment of firearms retailers and their customers, none of whom has harmed anybody. Ratcheting down on the rights of honest people is not the way to fight crime.
“We’re encouraging gun owners in New Mexico to contact their state representatives and ask them to reject this legislation,” Gottlieb said. “Lawmakers need to go back to the drawing board and sit down with people from the firearms community to find solutions which do not penalize honest gun owners and firearms retailers.”
Of course, while AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles tend to make the headlines when they’re used for criminal activity, they’re not actually a popular choice for homicides, all things considered. That distinction tends to go toward handguns, which are more easily concealed and thus more likely to be available and hidden when someone approaches their would-be target.
And since most criminals only need a few shots to kill that target, even magazine restrictions do nothing to stop the violent crime.
But that’s not what this is really about, though. The proposed ban is about optics. It’s about looking like you’re addressing violent crime without actually having to do anything except punish those who likely voted against your party in the first place. The media makes these weapons out to be the worst thing ever, in part driven by high-profile public mass shootings where such a weapon was used, but never put in the all-important context of how they’re still pretty rare.
Yes, both the mass shootings and the so-called assault weapons are being used in homicides.
This is especially troubling in the aftermath of Bruen, where lawmakers know good and well that a law won’t be upheld as constitutional unless there’s a historic analog for such a restriction, and for a gun ban like this, there isn’t. It just doesn’t exist.
The fact that a couple of Democrats crossed to vote against this is telling. It’s evidence that it’s just that bad of a bill, where even the typical partisanship couldn’t hold everyone in line.
New Mexico may well pass this, but like so many other proposed semi-auto bans, its days should be numbered.
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