Video taken by KOB4 and widely spread across social media captured New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) admitting to a reporter that her ban on carrying handguns in cities like Albuquerque will not impact criminals.
Breitbart News reported that Grisham announced the ban on carrying a handgun, openly or concealed, on Friday, September 8, 2023. The ban lasts 30 days and also applies to concealed carry permit holders who carry a gun for self-defense.
In the KOB4 video, a reporter questioned Grisham as to whether her order violated Second Amendment rights.
Grisham responded by stressing her belief that “no constitutional right … is intended to be absolute.”
Later in the video, another reporter asked, “Do you think that criminals are going to hear this message and not carry a gun in Albuquerque, on the streets, for 30 days?”
Grisham responded, “Ah….no.”
The Governor of New Mexico has just declared the 1st & 2nd Amendment “does not exist” due to an “emergency.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 9, 2023
Under this legal theory *all* of our “rights” are essentially eliminated.
Watch the most evil & tyrannical 60 seconds you’ve ever heard from a politician: pic.twitter.com/xLpMSTbyi2
Breitbart News noted that gun control activist David Hogg slammed Grisham’s order in an X post, writing, “I support gun safety but there is no such thing as a state public health emergency exception to the U.S. Constitution.”
Two lawsuits have already been filed over the order. One of the suits was filed by the National Association for Gun Rights and the second by Gun Owners of America.
The District Attorney over Albuquerque, Sam Bregman, made clear he will not enforce Grisham’s order out of concern that it is “clearly unconstitutional.”
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
