The Santa Fe Governing Body approved its wish list of state legislative priorities Wednesday night including asking that a Constitutional Amendment be placed on the ballot to allow municipalities and counties to enact stricter gun laws than allowed by the state.
The amendment was proposed by Mayor Alan Webber who says cities like Santa Fe are restrained due to the part of the state constitution that says “No municipality or county shall regulate in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms.”
Webber says it prevents him from working with other Mayors and lawmakers from finding other solutions to gun violence.
“It’s not only a question of the senseless gun violence that we are preempted from doing anything about,” he said. “According to a study published a week or so ago the rate of firearm fatalities among children in the United States, children under 18, increased by 87% from 2011 through 2021 so that while the death rate attributable to car accidents fell by almost half, the increase in firearms deaths means that currently the top cause of accidental death in children is firearms.”
All but Councilors Chris Rivera and Lee Garcia voted for the amendment to the city’s legislative requests. Rivera said he thought it was a good idea, but it needs to be dealt with at a higher level.
For the most part the legislative requests are financial in nature, including $15 million for permanent and transitional housing to combat homelessness, $88.4 million for wastewater treatment upgrades, $22.5 million for the Richards Avenue extension and $11.38 million for a new fire station on Santa Fe’s westside.