New Mexico governor defends treating gun violence as a public well being epidemic amid backlash

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday defended her choice to deal with gun violence as a public well being epidemic, citing statistics on current firearms seizures, lowered experiences of gunfire within the Albuquerque metro space and an uptick in jail bookings, whereas awaiting a vital courtroom ruling on a signature effort to droop gun-carry rights in public parks and playgrounds.

The governor final week prolonged an emergency public well being order concerning gun violence a further 30 days into early November. A federal decide has quickly blocked provisions that suspended the precise to hold weapons in public parks, playgrounds and different areas the place kids recreate, setting a Wednesday deadline for a ruling on whether or not to indefinitely block the restrictions whereas a number of courtroom challenges are resolved.

Lujan Grisham appeared on the information convention alongside Cabinet secretaries not just for New Mexico’s Public Safety and Corrections departments but additionally baby welfare providers, pubic well being and environmental safety companies which might be underneath orders to answer the ravages of gun violence and medicines.

They unveiled a brand new web site dashboard for statistics associated to gun violence within the Albuquerque space. Administration officers mentioned some new efforts to include gun violence and medicines wouldn’t be doable with out the emergency orders – reminiscent of a mandate that expanded conduct well being providers from main medical insurers and emergency funding for wastewater testing for medication at faculties.

“I won’t rest until we don’t have to talk about (gun violence) as an epidemic and a public health emergency. That’s the goal – and if we turn the tide and it’s sustainable,” Lujan Grisham mentioned.

Lujan Grisham is confronting a public backlash from critics of her public well being order who describe its gun restriction provisions as an assault on constitutional rights that enable an individual to hold a firearm for self protection.

On Tuesday, the governor mentioned she has a duty to discover alternatives for gun-free “safe spaces” amid shifting judicial precedent.

“That’s a question that’s now moving to the courts,” Lujan Grisham mentioned of her proposed gun restrictions. “I need to know what we can and cannot do to keep New Mexicans safe.”

The standoff is one among many within the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court choice final 12 months increasing gun rights, as leaders in politically liberal-leaning states discover new avenues for restrictions.

The governor’s emergency orders additionally embody directives for month-to-month inspections of firearms sellers statewide, experiences on gunshot victims at New Mexico hospitals and voluntary gun-buyback packages.

Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero mentioned her company is taking custody of 48 high-maintenance inmates from Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center to unlock employees to assist the realm deal with violent crime.

Environment Department Secretary James Kenney mentioned the deliberate wastewater testing program goals to establish which opioids, together with fentanyl, are current at public faculties, with 250 testing factors statewide, to tell the state’s response.

The governor has scaled again preliminary gun restrictions within the emergency public well being order that broadly suspended the precise to hold weapons in most public locations, which the sheriff and Albuquerque’s police chief had refused to implement.

The newest well being order additionally avoids interference with entry to a municipal taking pictures vary in Albuquerque positioned inside a public park. Gun restrictions can be tied to a statistical threshold for violent crime that utilized solely to Albuquerque and the encircling space.