New Mexico Supreme Court Backs Governors Emergency Gun Order, NM Republican Party Reacts

The New Mexico State Supreme Court rules in favor of Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham in regards to emergency gun control measures in public parks.

Republican lawmakers and gun rights advocates have continued their legal challenge to negate Gobernatorial power in state court arguing public health emergencies must be sudden or unforeseen, and the the governors emergency orders infringes on the legislature’s lawmaking role.

In a split decision, justices rejected those arguments. The order expired last October but the New Mexico Supreme Court still ruled on the case, saying similar issues could come up in the future. To read the court’s decision, click this link.

The justices split 3-2 in favor of the governor’s orders.

“First, petitioners do not show that the emergency orders remove any degree of the Legislature’s power to establish the law,” Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon wrote in a 79-page opinion issued Thursday morning.

“Second, petitioners do not show that the emergency orders conflict with existing statutory schemes to a level that usurps the Legislature’s role and function. Third, petitioners assert but do not establish that the emergency orders implement long-term policy goals, not temporary emergency measures.”

Lujan Grisham first declared the public health emergency in September 2023, banning firearms from all state property, public parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days, renewing it multiple times before the state Supreme Court heard arguments in January 2024

Gov. Lujan-Grisham issued the controversial order in response to rising gun violence across New Mexico, coming to a head with the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium just days prior.

The same day, Lujan Grisham issued another executive order declaring a state public health emergency due to drug abuse and ordering “drug monitoring and other public safety measures.”

Republican lawmakers and gun rights advocates including the National Rifle Association sued Lujan Grisham in October 2023, claiming the governor overstepped her authority in violation of legislative authority, the Second Amendment and the state’s Public Health Emergency Response Act. A federal judge allowed the order to remain in enforcement while the case was quickly run up the legal ladder

Local state Representative John Block screamed the sky was falling around First Amendment rights and cried of overreach in faked outrage, but without offering any real solutions to the issues of violence, other than to prostitute a position of outrage for media attention.

The plaintiffs argued before the state Supreme Court last year that gun violence and drug abuse don’t qualify as public health emergencies that would allow gun restrictions even temporarily.

Joined by the state’s Republican and Libertarian parties, the plaintiffs accused the governor of infringing on legislative authority and overriding gun regulations that have been in place for more than a century.

In defining what constitutes a public health emergency, the governor asserted that both gun violence and drug abuse “comfortably fall within” the category because of extremely dangerous conditions posed by weapons and toxic chemical agents posing an imminent threat to many New Mexico residents.

The Supreme Court agreed.

“At the outset, we note that the petitioners offer no clear argument that gun violence and drug abuse cannot satisfy the plain language of the PHERA’s definition of a public health emergency,” Bacon wrote for the majority.

Though Lujan Grisham declined to renew the orders in October 2024, the Supreme Court still decided the legal merits of the case to anticipate similar orders in the future and to discourage a governor from issuing an emergency order only to alter or revoke it once it’s challenged in court.

“Certainly, a governor in the future may declare a public health emergency under the PHERA that raises analogous questions,” Justice Bacon wrote. “Because a governor may change emergency orders at any time during the course of a declared public health emergency, review of a future challenged provision may similarly be evaded.”

Local County Commissioner and Chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico reacted to the ruling with a release...

The Court’s majority rubber-stamped the Governor’s expansive interpretation of the Public Health Emergency Response Act (PHERA), granting her near-unlimited power to declare emergencies and impose restrictions on New Mexicans’ freedoms.

But even in this defeat, there’s a silver lining: two justices, Michael E. Vigil and Briana H. Zamora, sounded the alarm, warning that this decision opens the door to unchecked executive power. Justice Vigil wrote, “The majority’s conclusion… leaves it totally in the discretion of any governor to assume sweeping emergency powers for any reason the governor chooses.” Justice Zamora added, “I am guided by my apprehension that the unconstrained exercise of emergency executive powers the majority has approved in this instance could readily be misused.”

“These courageous dissents confirm what Republicans have been saying all along: Democrats are setting the stage to go even further to threaten every New Mexican’s constitutional freedoms,” said Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela.

“This is why Republicans fought back. We sued to defend your Second Amendment rights, your right to due process, and your right to a government that respects the rule of law—not one that exploits vague statutes to control your life.

“The dissenting justices’ warnings prove our point: without a check on this power, what’s next? Will a future Democratic governor declare an ’emergency’ over climate change to seize property? Ban free speech to combat ‘misinformation’? The majority’s ruling says they can—and Democrats will. Governor Lujan Grisham’s actions are just the beginning.

“That’s why we must elect a Republican governor in 2026 and a Republican legislature to take back our state. Democrats have shown their hand. They’ll keep expanding executive power, eroding your liberties, ignoring the Constitution, and they’ll go even further than Lujan Grisham if we let them. Republicans are your shield against this tyranny. We’re fighting for your God-given rights, your family, and your future.”

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