The 2025 New Mexico Legislative Session is now over. Below is a recap of the session and what comes next.
First, what passed? Two bills related to firearms and gun laws made it through and have been signed by the governor. HB8, which included the state-level ban on illegal "firearm conversion devices" in the crime omnibus bill. HB8 states: "Unlawful possession of a weapon conversion device consists of a person knowingly having in that person's possession an unlawfully obtained weapon conversion device or knowingly transporting an unlawfully obtained weapon conversion device." State prosecutors claimed they needed to have a state-level ban as federal prosecutors in New Mexico were declining to take cases regarding illegally obtained machine guns.
The second bill, HB12, expanded New Mexico's red-flag gun confiscation law. The law now allows a police officer to initiate an order themselves and not wait for a family member to initiate the order. It also requires immediate surrender instead of within 48 hours in some petitions. Judges could already order an immediate surrender.
The three bills that we were intently watching towards the end all failed to pass. SB279, the gas-operated firearm and magazine purchase and transfer ban stalled out in the Senate Finance Committee. The governor was pushing very hard to get the bill through the committee, hence why it was added to the agenda with just two days to go. But nonetheless, it was never brought up for a vote. The gun-store liability bill, SB318, was never brought up for a vote on the House Floor. The concealed carry act rewrite, SB507, met the same fate of never receiving a vote on the House Floor.
But before the session had concluded, the governor already stated she wants to call a special session to pass gun control including a ban on semiautomatic rifles. She claimed it was in response to the shooting that occurred last night in Las Cruces, but she had been pushing very hard behind the scenes for SB279 this session even before that tragic incident happened. We don't know for sure if she will call a special session, but we note she has done it before. We will keep you updated on the status of a special session on gun control.
The shooting that occurred in Las Cruces was tragic, several young people had their lives cut short and others are hospitalized now. But once again in New Mexico we are forced to witness the escalation of events when our justice system fails to intervene. There had already been outbursts of violence at these "street takeover" events that happened at this park in Las Cruces in recent months along with other criminal activity. The Las Cruces Police Chief Jermy Story spoke of a lack of accountability for criminal acts at a press conference earlier today. It is also worth noting that all shell casings recovered by police at the scene were from handguns. The young individual seen in images on social media carrying a rifle was not one of the shooters according to investigators. |
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