On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Bernalillo County, New Mexico Sheriff John Allen (D) criticized New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) for her declaration of a health emergency to ban carrying firearms in public and stated that New Mexico law doesn’t have “strict enough penalties for juveniles with firearms” even though juvenile gun crime is increasing.
Allen reiterated his vow not to enforce the order because it’s not constitutional and would tie up law enforcement in litigation at a time when they have violent crime issues to deal with. Allen specifically said that the rise of juvenile firearm crime is one issue he wants to focus on.
He added, “She made it very clear during her press conference that she knows that law enforcement leaders would not support her necessarily, and this decision was solely on her. I wanted to inform and make sure that my constituents, [not just] in Bernalillo County, but the State of New Mexico, that we’re trying as hard as we can to make a dent in gun violence. We’re already behind the power curve. Our laws are already behind. We don’t have strict enough penalties for juveniles with firearms or even intervention programs. We’re behind, so that’s something that I want to focus on.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
