Independence Day is an important time to celebrate our freedom and our Second Amendment rights in America. But the gun control crowd in Dona Ana County is wasting no time beyond this holiday weekend to attack those rights and further the Bloomberg/Obama anti-gun agenda. Tomorrow, July 5, the Las Cruces City Council will consider Resolution No. 17-006, calling on the New Mexico Legislature to pass so-called “universal background check” legislation for all firearms sales when it convenes in 2017.
If this advisory resolution passes, it will have no force or effect of law; however, the City would go on record in support of criminalizing ALL private transfers of firearms – even between family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. No background check legislation will ever be "universal" since criminals simply ignore the law. If enacted, gun control advocates will simply check this misguided scheme off their list and march right on toward gun bans and magazine limits -- just like they did in Colorado.
Thanks to your calls, emails and testimony in opposition, state lawmakers have defeated any such proposals (including watered-down versions that targeted gun shows) every year since 2013. Let your local officials hear from you! Use the talking points below when contacting your City Council members in opposition to Resolution 17-006; share them with family, friends and fellow gun owners in Dona Ana County and urge them to take action as well. Also, please make plans to attend the Council meeting and speak out against this measure; the meeting will start at 1:00pm tomorrow (Tuesday) in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, located at 700 North Main Street. Those wishing to speak should sign-in using the Speaker Registration form available at the meeting.
Click the “Take Action” button above to contact your City councillor and politely urge them to oppose Resolution 17-006. Contact information for Mayor Miyagishima and City Council Members can be found here.
Why You Should Oppose Resolution 17-006
It’s an ineffective crime control proposal. In April of 2013, PoliceOne conducted a national survey of 15,000 active and retired law enforcement officers of all ranks and department sizes on the topics of gun & crime control. Nearly 80 percent said that a prohibition on private non-dealer transfers of firearms between individuals would not reduce violent crime.
Current laws are not being enforced. According to a 2012 report to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70,000 people were turned down for a gun purchase in 2010 because they didn’t clear a background check. Only 62 of those cases -- or just 0.85% -- were prosecuted. Existing laws are not even being enforced and proponents are calling for expanding background checks to cover private firearms transactions.
Gun shows, which are specifically mentioned in the resolution, aren’t a source of crime guns. A U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of state prison inmates who had used or possessed firearms in the course of committing their crimes found that 77 percent acquired their firearms from “street/illegal sources” or “friends and family.” This includes theft of firearms, black market purchases of stolen firearms and straw purchases. 0.8 percent obtained a firearm at a gun show.
This will lead to gun registration. Most importantly, because a January 2013 internal U.S. Department of Justice memorandum summarizing so-called "gun violence" prevention strategies stated that the effectiveness of "universal background checks" depends on "requiring gun registration."
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