New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday defended her decision to treat gun violence as a public health epidemic, citing statistics on recent firearms seizures, reduced reports of gunfire in the Albuquerque metro area and an uptick in jail bookings, while awaiting a crucial court ruling on a signature effort to suspend gun-carry rights in public parks and playgrounds.
The governor last week extended an emergency public health order regarding gun violence an additional 30 days into early November. A federal judge has temporarily blocked provisions that suspended the right to carry guns in public parks, playgrounds and other areas where children recreate, setting a Wednesday deadline for a ruling on whether to indefinitely block the restrictions while several court challenges are resolved.
Lujan Grisham appeared at the news conference alongside Cabinet secretaries not only for New Mexico’s Public Safety and Corrections departments but also child welfare services, pubic health and environmental protection agencies that are under orders to respond to the ravages of gun violence and drugs.
The real problem here from a governance standpoint is that executive orders are fundamentally anathema to the rule of law - but no judge is going to invalidate them on a conceptual level. Every legislature in the country loves unconstitutionally abrogating its responsibilities by delegating the executive.