New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) released a letter Tuesday making clear he will not “defend” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) ban on concealed and open carry.
When Torrez says he will not “defend” the ban, he specifically states that he will not argue in favor of the ban in the two lawsuits that have already been filed against it.
Breitbart News reported that one lawsuit was filed by the National Association for Gun Rights and the other by Gun Owners of America.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in Santa Fe, NM. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)
KOB4 noted that Torrez is concerned that Grisham’s order focused on law-abiding concealed carriers rather than criminals.
Torrez wrote, “Given that only responsible gun owners are likely to abide, much less recognize your ban, it is unclear how this action will lead to a measurable decline in gun violence in our community … The data do not support the conclusion that gun violence in our community is attributable to otherwise law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional right to carry firearms for protection outside the home.”
He also criticized Grisham’s decision to push the ban under the guise of a “public health emergency,” writing, “I believe it is unwise to stretch the definition of a ‘public health emergency’ to encompass something that is fundamentally a public safety issue.”
NM Attorney General Raul Torrez says he will NOT defend the governor in several already filed lawsuits related to her 30-day gun ban. “I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety…I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.” pic.twitter.com/XsgZjie2eT
— Brittany Costello (@BrittanyKOB) September 12, 2023
Breitbart News pointed out that Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, the D.A. over Albuquerque, said he would not enforce Grisham’s ban, as did Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen.
Bregman and Allen both described the ban as “unconstitutional.”
Gun control activist David Hogg slammed Grisham’s concealed carry ban as well, using a post on X to say, “I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”
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
