On Tuesday, January 23rd, the New Mexico House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing at the Capitol in Santa Fe on two gun control measures: House Bill 27 and House Bill 114:
House Bill 27 by Rep. Joy Garratt (Expanding the State's Red Flag Gun Confiscation Law)
Current law limits who can be a "reporting party" that can request a law enforcement officer to file a petition for an extreme risk protective order (ERPO) against another: an immediate family member, a person with whom a respondent has had a continuing personal relationship, an employer, or a public or private school administrator. The bill would expand the term "reporting party" to include licensed health care professionals and law enforcement officers. "Licensed health care professional" is not defined in the legislation and could include persons who have no mental health expertise or no actual professional, diagnostic, or personal relationship with a potential respondent. If law enforcement officers serve as both the reporting party AND the petitioner in ERPO proceedings, oversight and impartiality are removed from the process and this increases the potential for overreach in the use of such orders.
The bill also eliminates the existing 48-hour time period within which respondents must surrender firearms to a federal firearms licensed dealer (FFL), or a law enforcement officer or agency after being served with an order, and replaces it with an immediate surrender requirement. It's impossible to envision how a respondent could comply with this provision other than by relinquishing firearms to the law enforcement officer serving the order. This language effectively eliminates the FFL surrender option for respondents.
This law, which tramples on civil liberties and lacks adequate due process, should be repealed not expanded!
House Bill 114 by Rep. Christine Chandler (Reckless Lawsuits Against the Firearms Industry)
This measure would allow the state attorney general or a district attorney to bring an action for injunctive relief and civil penalties against anyone in the firearms industry for alleged violations of the newly devised Firearms Industry Accountability Act, vastly increasing their liability exposure when advertising legal products or conducting lawful business activities. Private causes of action are created without award limits. Here's what the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the leading firearms industry trade group, had to say about the Dangers of HB 114!
Plan to attend Tuesday's hearing, at 1:30pm, in Room 317 of the State Capitol in Santa Fe and testify in-person in opposition to these measures. If you cannot attend, you can still participate via Zoom or by phone to testify against House Bill 27 and House Bill 114. Click on the link below to join the committee webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82775218212
Or use one tap mobile: +12532050468, 82775218212# US
Webinar ID: 827 7521 8212
Also, click the button below to email committee members or click here for their capitol office phone numbers to call and let them know you OPPOSE House Bill 27 and House Bill 114.
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