Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced yesterday that she has ended an emergency public health order that suspended the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque.
The original public health order in September 2023 ignited a furor of public protests, prompted Republican calls for the governor’s impeachment and widened divisions among top Democratic officials.
It also spawned legal challenges that are still pending in the U.S. court system. Lujan Grisham says the suspension of gun rights and companion measures have improved public safety.
The public health order also sought to strengthen oversight of firearms sales and monitor illicit drug use at public schools through the testing of wastewater — before expiring on Saturday without renewal.
Lujan Grisham said in a statement that while she’s allowing the public health order to expire, the fight to protect communities from the dangers of guns and illegal drugs goes on.
Since the order went into effect last year, she said, the state has reduced gun violence through buy-back programs, increased arrests, and the distribution of free gun-storage locks.
The governor said she created the order in 2023 to keep guns out of Albuquerque’s public parks and playgrounds after a series of shootings around the state that had killed children.
Gun rights advocates filed an array of lawsuits and court motions aimed at blocking gun restrictions that they say would deprive Albuquerque-area residents of 2nd Amendment rights to carry in public for self-defense.
The standoff was one of many in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights, as political leaders in liberal-leaning states explored new avenues for restrictions.
This story was adapted from one by the Associated Press.
