NM governor riles conservatives with firearm suspension order

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose campaign was backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros, riled up conservatives and gun owners after she issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public in Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days.

The Democratic governor said she felt compelled to take action after a spate of recent shootings — including the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week.

“Gun violence is killing between 2 and 3 children every month in NM – every single one of these deaths is unconscionable and they must stop,” Lujan Grisham wrote Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Grisham’s move met with a backlash on social media, especially from X owner Elon Musk, who did not mince words.

“At risk of stating what should be obvious, deliberately violating the Constitution is next-level illegal,” Musk posted on X. “How soon can this person be removed from office?”

“Not only is this Michelle Lujan Grisham a moron, but she’s also a Marxist through and through,” conservative pundit Graham Ledger wrote.

“According to her, constitutional rights are not absolute,” wrote ‘Just Some Lady.’ “They are subject to her opinions. Unbelievable!”

Lujan Grisham, 63, who took office in 2019, said state police will be obliged to enforce the temporary ban but Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina said he won’t.

Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he’s uneasy about it because it raises too many questions about constitutional rights.

The firearms suspension, classified as an emergency public health order, applies to open and concealed carry in most public places, from city sidewalks to urban recreational parks.

The state Senate’s top-ranked Republican decried the governor’s move.

“A child is murdered, the perpetrator is still on the loose, and what does the governor do? She … targets law-abiding citizens with an unconstitutional gun order,” Sen. Greg Baca of Belen said.

When asked by a reporter if her temporary ban was unconstitutional, Lujan Grisham said: ‘With one exception.

And that is, if there’s an emergency and I’ve declared an emergency for a temporary amount of time I can invoke additional powers. No constitutional right in my view is intended to be absolute.”

Lujan Grisham admitted her decision was controversial.

“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” she said at a news conference, flanked by law enforcement officials, including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area.

“I’ve warned everyone that we expect a direct challenge, probably as you’re writing this we’re getting a challenge, and that’s the way it should work.”

Lujan Grisham referenced several recent shootings in Albuquerque as the reason for issuing the order.

Among them was a suspected road rage shooting Wednesday outside a minor league baseball stadium that killed 11-year-old Froyland Villegas and critically wounded a woman as their vehicle was peppered with bullets while people left the game.

Last month, a 5-year-old girl was fatally shot, allegedly by four teens, while asleep in a motor home.

The girl was struck in the head by a bullet and later died at a hospital.

The governor also cited the August death of a 13-year-old Taos County girl who was shot and killed by a 14-year-old boy using his father’s gun while they were at his home, authorities said.

Since 2019, Lujan Grisham has signed numerous pieces of legislation restricting access to guns, including a 2020 “red flag” law allowing police or sheriff’s deputies to ask a court to temporarily remove guns from people who might hurt themselves or others, an extension of background-check requirements to nearly all private gun sales.

She also signed a ban on firearms possession for people under permanent protective orders for domestic violence.

with Post wires