Sponsor of House Bill 129, Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, listens to testimony in favor of the bill during a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee at the state Capitol on Thursday, Jan 25, 2024. Gun control legislation continued to make headway in the Legislature Thursday with three key bills getting through the committee. Courtesy/SFNM

One of the most vocal opponents of the three gun control bills, Republican Rep. Stefani Lord, questions the sponsor of House Bill 129 during a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee at the state Capitol on Thursday, Jan 25, 2024. Despite opposition, gun control legislation continued to make headway in the Legislature Thursday with three key bills getting through the committee. Courtesy/SFNM

By ROBERT NOTT
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Gun control legislation continued to make headway in the Legislature Thursday, with three key bills getting through a House committee as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham proclaimed she remains confident the controversial measures will eventually land on her desk.

One bill would limit magazine sizes and ban some types of semiautomatic rifles; one would raise the age to legally buy or possess an automatic or semiautomatic firearm from 18 to 21; and one would impose a 14-day waiting period on gun purchases. All three advanced out of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on 4-2 party-line votes and now head to House Judiciary.

Thursday’s lengthy hearing — almost six hours in all — got emotional at times, with some teen students expressing fear about being the victims of gun violence and some gun rights advocates striking a defiant tone. Supporters of the bills said the measures will save lives in a culture enveloped in gun violence, while opponents said they violate the constitutional right to keep and bear arms and will not stop criminals who illegally access guns from committing gun violence. 

“We are desensitized to violence in general … from video games to issues at school to the news to everything we read to all of the movies,” Lujan Grisham said during a virtual news conference Thursday morning hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety. “I think we are desensitized and in many ways it has created around the country a negative gun culture, which is why this is so important.”

The most contentious bill of the three is likely House Bill 137, the “Gas-Operated Semiautomatic Firearms Exclusion Act,” which is modeled after a bill U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, and U.S. Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, are pushing at the federal level. 

Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, one of the sponsors of the bill, which would require semi-automatic rifles to have permanently fixed magazines of no more than 10 rounds, said the goal of the bill is to “prevent mass shootings.” The discussion started off on a personal note when Rep. Charlotte Little, D-Albuquerque, spoke of losing her younger brother in a shooting in an Albuquerque movie theater last summer. 

“That one act touched so many people and had such a ripple effect throughout our world,” she said of the shooting death of her brother, Michael Tenorio, at the Century Rio movie theater.

“We have to do something,” said Little, one of HB 137’s sponsors.

Little, Romero and Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque — another HB 137 sponsor — recounted personal stories of having loved ones wounded or killed in shootings. In Romero’s case, she was in a crowd at a concert when she was 18 when a shooter opened fire, wounding one of her classmates.

For every person who opposed the bill — “our constitutional rights are not negotiable” one Edgewood woman said — another supported it, including teen Penelope Loyd Sment, whose voice trembled when she said she is “frightened all the time. … There’s a crisis going on.”

Another teen — Anjali Harville, who said she attends Sandia High School in Albuquerque — asked the committee members to look her in the eyes as she told them she is afraid to go to school every day. She said school should be a place to focus on her education and not a place to worry about pulling another student over her body when there’s an active shooter in the school. 

The bill’s opponents said it would punish legal gun owners.

“The bill would do nothing to prevent crime in our communities,” said Jake Melidones with the New Mexico Firearms Industry Association. “With dwindling police numbers this bill would ban many of the best tools people have to defend themselves.”

The first of the three bills to be considered during Thursday’s hearing was House Bill 129, which would impose a 14-day waiting period to purchase a firearm with the understanding a background check on the buyer could be properly conducted during that time.

Romero, who is co-sponsoring HB 129, said it will give law enforcement more time to conduct those background checks and make it less likely people will buy guns to impulsively harm themselves or others.

“When you look at New Mexico we have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, and when you look at what waiting periods do, it provides a critical cooling-off period,” Romero said.

As currently written, the bill would give New Mexico the longest waiting period to buy a gun in the country. Hawaii requires a 14-day waiting period but its waiting period is counted in calendar days, not business days as in HB 129. Other states with waiting periods set them at three, seven or 10 days.

Some opponents said the extra waiting period could put people who want to protect themselves at risk against criminals, stalkers or partners in a domestic violence conflict. Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, said it would make life harder for people in rural areas who might have to drive long distances to buy a gun.

“I see this as a direct tax, especially on the poorest New Mexicans in rural New Mexico,” he said.

A recent FBI report noted that of more than 1 million background checks for firearm purchases — about 4% of all checks — took longer than three business days in 2020 and 2021. After the third business day, federal law allows dealers to sell weapons while the background check is still pending, which could put the weapons in the hands of people who can’t legally own a gun because of a criminal background or mental illness.

The third bill, House Bill 127, raises the age to buy and possess automatic and semiautomatic firearms from 18 to 21. It carves out some exceptions, including for those using firearms in safety courses, target shooting at ranges, organized shooting competitions, legal hunting and trapping and transit to these events with unloaded firearms. Additionally, under supervision, those under 21 can own guns on private property owned by parents, grandparents or legal guardians.

Previous attempts to ban AR-15 and AK-47 rifles and similar weapons in New Mexico have failed, with some Democratic lawmakers joining Republicans to oppose such measures, and opponents of this year’s effort say it will likely be challenged in court. However Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said before Thursday’s hearing she feels confident HB 137 could gain legislative support and become law in New Mexico this year.

“I’d love it if it was so clear that there are no constitutional questions, but democracy works through having these kinds of questions through different formats,” Lujan Grisham said.

Gun rights advocates listen as Cindy Benedict of Rio Rancho, right, speaks in favor of House Bill 129, which would impose a 14-day waiting period to purchase a firearm, during a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee at the state Capitol on Thursday, Jan 25, 2024. Gun control legislation continued to make headway in the Legislature Thursday with three key bills getting through the committee. Courtesy/SFNM