After the New Mexico state Governor placed a temporary ban on the right to carry firearms, the public has expressed their opinions. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham was elected into office in 2019. On September 8, 2023, she released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, declaring that she signed a “30-day ban on the open & concealed carrying of guns in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.” Many United States citizens are outraged over this bill, claiming that this ban violates the U.S. Constitution. When people say that this bill is violating the Constitution, they are proclaiming that the Second Amendment is being infringed. The Second Amendment clearly states that “a well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” With this in hand, is the Governor’s bill illegal?

The answer to this question is very hazy. Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution is referred to as the Supremacy Clause. This clause states that federal law trumps all other laws while granting the Federal Government to be the supreme law of the land. The representatives debating whether the bill is legal refer to the Second Amendment, which should have supremacy over all the land; however, the Governor tweeted that “conceal and open carry are state laws that [she has] jurisdiction over.” On the other hand, Tyler Scaglione, a senior at Olympic Heights, believes that “her actions are absolutely unconstitutional.” Scaglione also thinks that the Governor is disarming the law-abiding citizens rather than the criminals.

While this bill is on the line between legal and illegal, the actual question is if the bill will actually help the problem at hand. The Governor claims that she implemented the bill because of the increasing gun violence statistics. Although this sounds like a good reason on paper, the statistics tell a different story. A study led by epidemiologist Anthony Fabio of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health showcased statistics that 79% of crimes with a gun contained a perpetrator who had obtained that gun illegally. If a person is not stopped from breaking the law by attaining a firearm illegally, what prevents them from carrying a gun illegally? The bottom line of this study is that law-abiding citizens do not commit the majority of gun violence crimes; therefore, removing guns from law-abiding citizens in New Mexico will not decrease the number of violent crimes with firearms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study in 2022 about self-defense gun usage. This study found that guns are used between 60,000 and 2.5 million times per year for self-defense. This range of cases is extensive; however, imagine 60,000 people who could have died if they had not used a firearm to protect themselves. This is the reason why countless people are angered. The bill only punishes law-abiding citizens because criminals have already proved willing to break the law.

The political climate often clouds the view of society. It is obvious that children, or any innocent person, should not be dying from gun violence, but taking away a constitutional right is simply not a suitable method of action. It is an excellent move by the Governor to raise attention to an ongoing problem, but it should not become a political problem.