{"id":43971,"date":"2021-11-01T22:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T04:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-imposes-firearms-ban-at-state-capitol-building\/"},"modified":"2021-11-02T04:49:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T04:49:00","slug":"new-mexico-imposes-firearms-ban-at-state-capitol-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-imposes-firearms-ban-at-state-capitol-building\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico imposes firearms ban at state Capitol building"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Firearms
Firearms are being banned at the New Mexico state Capitol building with few exceptions starting in early December, under rule changes approved Monday by leading Democratic lawmakers. (Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SANTA FE \u2013 Firearms are being banned at the New Mexico state Capitol building with few exceptions starting in early December, under rule changes approved Monday by leading Democratic lawmakers.<\/p>\n

The changes reverse a live-and-let-live approach toward guns in the Statehouse that has endured for more than a century.<\/p>\n

Until now, New Mexico has allowed the open and concealed carry of firearms in the building with no systematic screening for weapons at entrances, which are guarded by State Police when the Legislature is in session. Limited gun restrictions were put in place in recent years during the State of the State address and contentious hearings on gun bills.<\/p>\n

The new prohibition on deadly weapons \u2013 also including various knives, brass knuckles and sharpened canes \u2013 takes effect Dec. 6, when legislators are scheduled to convene for political redistricting.<\/p>\n

Democratic state Sen. George Mu\u00f1oz of Gallup said the changes were a necessary response to new and unpredictable security threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to tighten down the Capitol,\u201d said Mu\u00f1oz, acknowledging that he has a concealed carry license. \u201cIt is the way the world is making us do things now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gun ban, drafted by Democratic Senate majority leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe, applies to most people, including legislators and staff members inside the Statehouse and adjoining annex offices. The new restrictions don\u2019t apply to certified law enforcement officers and uniformed armed service personnel, and additional exceptions can be granted by the House speaker and Senate president, positions currently held by Democrats.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers said the gun ban would infringe on a bedrock state constitutional right to bear arms \u2013 that some see as form of free expression in itself \u2013 and called for a more thorough public debate and vetting.<\/p>\n

The changes were approved by an 8-5 vote of a panel of leading lawmakers who oversee administrative, legal and security issues at the Legislature, with Republicans voting in unison against the changes.<\/p>\n

State House minority leader James Townsend of Aztec said the proposal would unfairly deny legislators and staff members the ability to defend themselves, compromising security in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about Capitol security, we\u2019re talking about banning firearms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Senate majority leader Wirth, author of the new rules, acknowledged that he has felt frightened and intimidated by people carrying firearms inside the Capitol \u2013 and said his constituents have steered away from legislative hearings because of people openly carrying guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are places where firearms just shouldn\u2019t be part of the process and they shouldn\u2019t be part of free speech, and the Roundhouse is one of them,\u201d said Wirth, using a common nickname for the circular Capitol building. \u201cConcealed carry is certainly not going to happen in the courthouse. … There just are places where, as a policy decision, we make the decision that firearms are not in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wirth said the Legislature is on firm legal ground in restricting firearms, noting that the state Supreme Court rejected a challenge to robust security precautions in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol in Washington and undisclosed security threats to the state Capitol in Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

The state Capitol was cordoned off early this year by fencing, concrete barricades and military personnel in response to undisclosed threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firearms are being banned at the New Mexico state Capitol building with few exceptions starting in early December, under rule changes approved Monday by leading Democratic lawmakers. (Durango Herald file)du1-i-syn SANTA FE \u2013 Firearms are being banned at the New Mexico state Capitol building with few exceptions starting in early December, under rule changes approved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43971"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}