In a very pleasantly surprising turn of events, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has informed Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham that he will not defend her or her administration against any of the several lawsuits brought forward against her regarding her illegal and unconstitutional order banning the permitted open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Torrez said in his statement what we all knew and continue to know from the very beginning, that he believes that it would not pass constitutional muster.
This is huge. Raul Torrez, the New Mexico Attorney General (D), will not defend the Governor or her administration against suits filed in response to her “health emergency”, declaring her order will “not pass constitutional muster”. #Impeachment #ImpeachMLG #impeachGrisham… pic.twitter.com/89QJo4pSFA
— Reeve Swainston, Esq. (@ReeveSwainston) September 12, 2023
As predicted, lawsuits were filed in almost record time almost immediately after Grisham gave her illegal order. One is from a gun rights group named the National Association for Gun Rights, which has a strong track record of successful lawsuits against orders or laws like these.
The complaint notes that New Mexico’s government “must justify the Carry Prohibition by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” and that “it is impossible for the State to meet this burden, because there is no such historical tradition of firearms regulation in this Nation.”
Grisham, to her credit, hasn’t backed down at all, instead digging her heels as deep into the ground as humanly possible in a pathetic attempt at defending her illegal order. RedState’s Bonchie writes:
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham continues to try to justify her decision to “suspend” gun rights in parts of her state under the guise of a “health emergency.”
Since her disastrous press conference, where her attempts to explain the legality behind her move fell completely flat, the governor has made several posts on social media. All of them have failed to address her blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. Instead, Lujan Grisham seems to have no idea how to respond and has instead sought to blame others instead of addressing the elephant in the room. She is the classic example of a politician who got out over their skis and now has no idea what to do next.
Here’s a bit of political advice for whoever may be reading this. When a politician constantly tries to paint themselves as “doing it for the children” (a favorite line of Nancy Pelosi), you should run, not walk to vote them out of office. You can bet that they are actually petty tyrants who seek to use kids as pawns to justify their outrageous and illegal actions.
Banning law-abiding New Mexico residents from concealed-carrying guns is not going to make a single child safer. It’s just a way for Lujan Grisham to punish her political enemies, which is something she tacitly admits in her post. She’s essentially saying “I broke the law because you have no plan.” But what exactly would a plan look like for New Mexico legislators? What are they supposed to do? Pass a resolution saying shooting people is bad?
It is very encouraging to see the numerous people, especially those from the left side of the political aisle, publicly stand up and affirm the illegality of Grisham’s orders. It’s even better when the state attorney general, who is a registered Democrat, tells his boss that, in no uncertain terms, she messed up and messed up bad enough that he won’t defend her in court. As RedState has thoroughly covered, both fellow Democrat politicians and gun-control advocates are saying she’s wrong:
…she’s even lost people like rabid Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who said no state can “suspend the federal Constitution.” That’s how you knew that hell was freezing over, and she’d truly jumped the shark with this wild move. But it got worse. We may be bordering on the Apocalypse when even David Hogg, the guy whose whole existence is built on bad gun control takes, came out against Lujan Grisham’s move.
I will give Grisham credit, though; she is not giving up and will not admit that she is wrong. She is turning herself into a national embarrassment, and she is still refusing to back down. However, I do look forward to the legal beatdown she will take in court. Mad tyrants like her need to get knocked down a few pegs to get through to them, and she’s about to experience that when the courts slap down her order.