New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is allowing firearm businesses and shooting ranges to reopen following a lawsuit filed by the NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation, the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, and Mountain States Legal Foundation, among others.
The lawsuit was filed April 10, 2020, in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. The suit came after Grisham’s coronavirus closure order omitted gun businesses and shooting ranges as essential, thereby requiring owners to close them.
The suit claimed, “New Mexico’s government cannot suspend the Constitution and Americans’ individual freedoms. The suspension and deprivation of natural and constitutionally protected rights and liberties by governmental fiat is unlawful.”
It continued: “This lawsuit challenges Defendants’ mandatory shuttering of lawful retail firearms businesses. By arbitrarily, capriciously—and unconstitutionally—targeting those who lawfully sell firearms and ammunition, New Mexico is depriving citizens of their natural and fundamental right to keep and bear arms.”
On Monday, Grisham announced that she would allow gun stores and ranges to reopen.
The NRA-ILA ligation counsel Michael Jean reacted to Grisham’s announcement, saying, “NRA members and law-abiding gun owners earned a victory today. Gun shops and ranges are open now, and our members in New Mexico can freely exercise their rights.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange
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