U.S. District Judge David Herrera Urias, a Joe Biden appointee, issued a temporary restraining order against New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) concealed carry ban Wednesday afternoon.
Breitbart News reported that Grisham’s ban took effect September 8, 2023, prohibiting open and concealed carry, even for licensed concealed carry permit holders.
Urias issued the temporary restraining order against the ban in a suit brought by Gun Owners of America and other plaintiffs including the National Association for Gun Rights, the New Mexico Shooting Sports Foundation, and the Gun Owners Foundation, among others.
After issuing the temporary restraining order Urias wrote:
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED BY THE COURT that the Defendants New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico Department Secretary Patrick M. Allen, New Mexico Department of Public Safety Jason R. Bowie, Chief of the New Mexico State Police and any other New Mexico officials (“Defendants”) are ENJOINED from applying, enforcing, or attempting to enforce, either criminally or civilly, Section (1) of the New Mexico Department of Health’s “Public Health Emergency Order Imposing Temporary Firearm Restrictions, Drug Monitoring and Other Public Safety Measures” (“PHO”) published on September 8, 2023.
Urias made clear the temporary restraining order is to stay in place “until such time as the Court has ruled on the Plaintiffs’ motions for preliminary injunction, following a hearing at which all parties shall have the opportunity to present further argument to this Court.”
The hearing for the preliminary injunction is set for October 3, 2023.
“A temporary restraining order is an extremely rare form of injunction, one that is given in constitutional rights cases only for the most egregious forms of government abuses,” explained Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Klukowski, a constitutional lawyer who litigates Second Amendment cases. “The fact that a judge appointed by Joe Biden is compelled to admit that this gun grab rises to that level of radical constitutional violation speaks volumes.”
The case is GOA v. Grisham, No. 1:23-cv-00772-DHU-LF, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
