By Daniel J. Chacón
The Santa Fe New Mexican

A proposed ban on semiautomatic firearms in New Mexico is turning out to be a moving target.

The Senate Judiciary Committee decided late Monday to take time to study a proposed assault weapons ban for the state modeled after an Illinois law that is tied up in the courts.

“We’ll have you ready to go at our very next meeting on Wednesday,” Sen. Joe Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the committee, told the sponsors.

The decision came after Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, introduced the proposal as a substitute to Senate Bill 279, a measure to ban the sale or transfer of semiautomatic rifles in New Mexico and prohibit the manufacture and sale of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Duhigg said her substitute proposal would allow New Mexico to avoid costly litigation.

“The [U.S.] Supreme Court has not yet taken up an assault weapons ban,” she said. “I don’t think that’s because they’re not going to. I think they are waiting for the best test case, and that’s what they’re going to take. By taking this approach, which has already gone through some litigation and has already been upheld to some degree, we are in a better position as a state.”

Duhigg called SB 279, known as the Gas-Operated Semiautomatic Firearms Exclusion Act, or GOSAFE, a “novel approach.” SB 279 is modeled after a bill U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, is co-sponsoring that also seeks to regulate gas-operated semiautomatic weapons.

“While that is an interesting and novel approach, it also makes it even more possible that we could be that test case and then the state will be exposed to lengthy and expensive litigation that, to be honest, with our Supreme Court, I don’t trust we would win,” she said, adding she’d rather let Illinois be the test case.

“I think this is a more legally cautious approach that still achieves the same impact and effect that I believe the sponsors are trying to achieve with their legislation,” she said.

Sen. Debbie O’Malley, D-Albuquerque, who is among the sponsors of SB 279, said she accepted the substitute, believing it would be more resilient to legal challenges. The substitute characterizes weapons differently but achieves the same purpose, she said.

Although the committee rolled the committee substitute over, senators raised several concerns with the proposal.

Sen. Heather Berghmans, D-Albuquerque, who is also among the sponsors of SB 279, said the original bill addressed many of the concerns Cervantes and other committee members brought up.

“The committee substitute was also a surprise to us until this morning,” she said. “We look forward to continuing the discussions in committee again on Wednesday.”