The state law distinguishes between felons and serious violent felons, with a mandatory minimum sentence for a serious violent felon that violates the "prohibited persons" law. For both types of felons, a conviction ceases to be prohibiting once ten years have passed since the person completed serving a sentence or period of probation for the felony conviction, whichever is later, or the person has been pardoned for the felony conviction by the proper authority, or the person receives a deferred sentence.

The other criminal convictions that are prohibiting are convictions for the NM crimes of battery against a household member; criminal damage to property of a household member; and a first offense of stalking. Unlike felonies, a conviction for these offenses does not expire, for the purposes of a firearm disability, after ten years.

A separate state law, NM Stat. § 30-7-2.2, prohibits any person under the age of 19 from possessing or transporting a handgun, with exceptions for attendance at a hunter’s safety course or handgun safety course or participating in a lawful shooting activity, engaging in legal hunting or trapping activities, and others. Any handgun possessed or carried by a person in violation of this law is subject to seizure and forfeiture by a law enforcement agency; NM Stat. § 30-7-2.3.

Licenses: The concealed carry licensing law is found at N.M. Stat. § 29–19–1 to § 29–19–15.

Issuing agency/official: The department of public safety; § 29-19-5(B)

Minimum age: 21 years § 29-19-4(A)(3)

State residency required: Generally, yes; the applicant must be a resident of New Mexico or a member of the armed forces whose permanent duty station is located in New Mexico or is a dependent of such a member; § 29-19-4(A)(2)

Objective disqualifications: Applicant is not a US citizen; is a fugitive from justice; has been convicted of a felony or is under indictment for a felony crime in any US jurisdiction; has at any time been adjudicated mentally incompetent or committed to a mental institution; is addicted to alcohol or controlled substances; has received a conditional discharge, a diversion or a deferment or has been convicted of, pled guilty to or entered a plea of nolo contendere to a misdemeanor offense involving a crime of violence within ten years immediately preceding the application;

has been convicted of a misdemeanor offense involving driving while under the influence within five years immediately preceding the application; has been convicted of a misdemeanor offense involving the possession or abuse of a controlled substance within ten years immediately preceding the application; has been convicted of a misdemeanor offense involving assault, battery or battery against a household member; or is “otherwise prohibited by federal law or the law of any other jurisdiction from purchasing or possessing a firearm;” § 29-19-4(A) and (B)

Training /Familiarity requirement: Yes. With some exceptions, an initial applicant must have satisfactorily completed a minimum 15-hour firearms training course approved by the department of public safety “for the category and the largest caliber of handgun that the applicant wants to be licensed to carry as a concealed handgun.” The initial course requirements are set out in § 29-19-7. A licensee must complete a two-hour refresher firearms training course two years after the issuance of an original or renewed license which “shall be taken twenty-two to twenty-six months after the issuance of an original or renewed license,” § 29-19-6(H). A license renewal requires completion of a four-hour refresher firearms training course approved by the department; § 29-19-6(F)(3).

Fingerprints required: Yes; § 29-19-5 (B)(3)

Maximum processing time: 30 days; § 29-19-6(A)

Fees: $100 for the initial application and $75 for a renewal

Duration of permit: Four years; § 29-19-3

Mandatory notifications: A regulation requires that a licensee carrying a concealed handgun on or about his person in public “shall, upon demand by a peace officer,” display their license; N.M. Admin. Code 10.8.2.16(D). The regulation at subs. (L) also requires that a licensee inform the department within 10 days of any adjudication of mental incompetence entered or issued against the licensee; any commitment to a facility for the treatment of mental illness or for the treatment of addiction to alcohol, controlled substances, or other drugs; any order of protection; or any pending indictment for a felony or disqualifying misdemeanor offense. A licensee must notify the department of public safety of any change of the licensee’s name or permanent address within 30 days; a loss, theft or destruction of a license must be reported to the department within 10 days; § 29-19-6(D) and (E).

Special Provisions? The concealed handgun license must show “the category and the largest caliber of handgun that the licensee is licensed to carry, with a statement that the licensee is licensed to carry smaller caliber handguns but shall carry only one concealed handgun at any given time;”§ 29-19-6(C)(4). A licensee who wished to add another category or additional higher calibers of handguns to his or her license must obtain an additional handgun endorsement on application to the department, with proof of competency on a firing range for each additional

category and caliber of handgun, his or her current license, and a $10 processing fee. NM Admin. Code 10.8.2.18.  A regulation, N.M. Admin. Code 10.8.2.16, confirms that a licensee may only carry one concealed handgun on the person at any time, but this does not apply to firearms that are not concealed carried on the person, or those transported in a vehicle. 

New Mexico has separate carry license provisions for “military service persons” (anyone accepted into the United States armed forces and on active duty, on reserve or guard duty, or who is a veteran or a retiree who received an honorable discharge). Application fees are waived and a firearms training course or refresher firearms training course is not required. The license is printed with “military service person” and is valid for a period of five years. N.M. Stat. § 29-19-15.

Under carry license provisions for current and retired law enforcement officers and New Mexico mounted patrol members at N.M. Stat. § 29-19-14, an application fee, a renewal fee and a firearms training course are not required for an applicant or licensee who is a current or retired certified law enforcement officer pursuant to the state Law Enforcement Training Act, or a current member of the New Mexico mounted patrol who has successfully completed a law enforcement academy basic law enforcement training program for New Mexico mounted patrol members.

Non-resident carriers. New Mexico does not issue non-resident licenses. It allows a person establishing New Mexico residency to transfer a license from another state by filing an application with the department of public safety within 90 days of moving into the state and show that their license either meets the other requirements of a NM license or that they have completed those requirements in NM. The applicant must complete a four-hour training course if the firearms training required by the other state meets or exceeds New Mexico firearms training requirements and the licensee completed firearms training not more than one year prior to filing the application; otherwise, the same training as for an initial applicant applies; NM Admin. Code 10.8.2.17(B).

The NM reciprocity law at NM Stat. § 29-19-12 requires that the other state’s licensing provisions be “at least as stringent as or substantially similar to” those in NM, and that a license applicant submit to a national criminal history record check, not be prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to federal or state law, and satisfactorily complete a firearms safety program that covers deadly force issues, weapons care and maintenance, safe handling and storage of firearms and marksmanship as part of that state licensing process. A regulation forbids extending reciprocity to a license issued by another state to a New Mexico resident; NM Admin. Code 10.8.2.29.

Places where carrying is prohibited:

Schools and Preschools: With some exceptions (security personnel, state-authorized hunter safety training instruction or school-authorized programs, for instance), it is a felony to carry a firearm or other deadly weapon on school premises. “School premises” mean buildings and grounds, parking areas, and any school bus of any public elementary, secondary, junior high or high school or any other place where school or school-related activities are being conducted under the supervision of a local school board, but does not include a firearm on school premises in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, for lawful protection of person or property, if the person is at least 19 years old; NM Stat. § 30-7-2.1. A license does not authorize carrying a concealed handgun on the premises of a preschool; NM Stat. § 29-19-8.

Schools of Higher Education (university, community college, branch community college, technical-vocational institute, or an area vocational school): Carrying a firearm on these premises is generally prohibited unless the person is a security guard, taking part in a school-approved program, class or other activity involving the carrying of a firearm; ROTC or a state-authorized hunter safety training program; or is in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, for lawful protection of person or property, if the person is at least 19 years old. The school must conspicuously post notices on its premises indicating it is unlawful to carry; NM Stat. § 30-7-2.4.

Licensed Alcohol/Liquor Businesses: It is a crime to carry a loaded or unloaded firearm on any premises licensed by the regulation and licensing department for the dispensing of alcoholic beverages, except for law enforcement; the owner, lessee, tenant or operator of the licensed premises or their agents, including privately employed security; in any area primarily used for vehicular traffic or parking or area rented on a daily or short-term basis for sleeping or residential occupancy; or a person with a NM-issued carry license IF the licensed establishment does not sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, or it is a restaurant licensed to sell only beer and wine and derives no less than 60 percent of its annual gross receipts from the sale of food for consumption on the premises, unless the restaurant is posted as “no guns” or the owner or manager has stated that carrying a firearm is not permitted in the restaurant; NM Stat. § 30-7-3.

Public Transit/Buses (seating capacity of at least 15 people): It is a crime to board or attempt to board a bus while in possession of a firearm upon the person or effects and readily accessible to the person while on the bus. This does not apply to anyone with prior approval from the bus company, law enforcement officers or commercial security personnel acting in the course of their employment, or anyone transporting a weapon in compliance with regulations established by the bus company and where the firearm is transported in a compartment which is not accessible to passengers while the bus is moving. A bus transportation company is authorized to use “any reasonable means, including mechanical, electronic or x-ray devices to detect concealed weapons” or other hazardous material in baggage or upon the person of a passenger, may confiscate any concealed weapon or other hazardous material discovered, and must turn it over to law enforcement. N.M. Stat. §§ 30-7-13, 30-7-15, and 30-7-11 (definitions).

Polling Places and Ballot Receptacles: NM Stat. § 1-20-24 makes it a crime to possess a loaded or unloaded firearm within: (1) 100 feet of the door through which voters may enter to vote at a school building in which a polling place is located while early voting is in progress or on election day; (2) 100 feet of the door through which voters may enter to vote at the office of the county clerk, an alternate voting location, a mobile voting site or any location used as a polling place while early voting is in progress or on election day that is not a school; or (3) within 50 feet of a “monitored secured container” made available by the county clerk to receive an official mailing envelope containing a voted ballot for that election, effective 28 days before an election and through election day. Exemptions: a person in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, a person in possession of a valid NM concealed handgun, and law enforcement. Further, a person “conducting lawful, non-election-related business nearer than one hundred feet from the door through which voters may enter to vote or nearer than fifty feet from a monitored secured container is not guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm at a polling place.”

Tribal or Pueblo Land: A concealed handgun license is not valid on tribal land unless authorized by the governing body of an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo; NM Stat. § 29-19-10.

Courthouses/ Court Facilities: A concealed handgun license is not valid in any courthouse or court facility unless authorized by the presiding judicial officer for that courthouse or court facility; NM Stat. § 29-19-11.

A 1990 Attorney General’s opinion (No. 90-07, March 28, 1990) concluded that buying and selling firearms is an “incident” of the right to bear arms which the Constitution prohibits a county or municipality from regulating in any way. “The ability to obtain weapons is inherent in and connected with the right to bear and keep arms. Limitations on purchases or sales of weapons naturally affect a person’s prerogative to possess a weapon, and sales and purchases of weapons are dependent upon the ability of state citizens to bear and keep arms. Also, regulations affecting the transfer of firearms, like any form of gun control, amounts to regulation of the weapons themselves, and weapons certainly inseparably belong to or are connected with the right to bear and keep them.”

In a later court decision in 2002, Baca v. NM Department of Public Safety, 132 N.M. 282 (NM, 2002), the Supreme Court of New Mexico held that a state law that directed the Department of Public Safety to promulgate rules granting a county or municipality the authority to disallow the carrying of a concealed handgun within the limits of the county or municipality, violated the preemption provision in the state constitution. “The Act purports to allow municipalities and counties to prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons and, in so doing, delegates to them the power to regulate an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. The broad language in Article II, Section 6 of our Constitution prohibiting municipalities and counties from regulating an ‘incident’ of the right to keep and bear arms ‘in any way’ indicates an intent to preclude piecemeal administration at a local level and to ensure uniformity in the regulation of firearms throughout the State of New Mexico. [The law at issue] directly conflicts with the prohibition against local regulation in Article II, Section 6. Therefore, this provision is unconstitutional.”

For the purposes of the background check requirement, a “firearm” means any weapon that will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosion, the frame or receiver of any such weapon, and a suppressor/silencer, but excludes antique firearms as defined in federal law, any powder-actuated tool or other device designed to be used for construction purposes, an emergency flare or a firearm in permanently inoperable condition. A “sale” means the delivery or passing of ownership, possession or control of a firearm for a fee or other consideration but does not include temporary possession or control of a firearm provided to a customer by the proprietor of a licensed business in the conduct of that business. An “immediate family member” means a spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandchild, niece, nephew, first cousin, aunt or uncle. NM Stat. § 30-7-7.1(C) (definitions).

State law makes it a crime to knowingly purchase, transfer or conspire to purchase or transfer any firearm for, on behalf of or at the request or demand of another person, knowing that the other person is a convicted felon, or intends to use, carry, possess, sell or otherwise transfer possession of the firearm in furtherance of any felony or misdemeanor involving a firearm. A violation is a fourth-degree felony; NM Stat. § 30-7-7.2.

New Mexico passed a waiting period law in 2024, § 30-7-7.3, that requires a seven-day waiting period for the sale of a firearm and the transfer of the firearm to the buyer. If the required background check results are not known by the end of the seventh day, the seller cannot transfer the firearm to the buyer until the NICS check is completed, but if the check remains uncompleted within twenty days, the seller may transfer the firearm to the buyer. This law exempts sales between FFLs or immediate family members, sales to a law enforcement agency, or a sale to a person with a valid NM concealed carry license. This waiting period law has been challenged as unconstitutional. So far, in 2025 the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Ortega v. Grisham, 148 F.4th 1134 (10th Cir. 2025) held that the waiting period law was an infringement on the Second Amendment right to bear arms and that the government failed to provide any relevant historical analogues to the law (“The first state waiting periods that were untethered to the time that it takes to pass a background check or complete a certification course did not appear until the 1990s”). The court remanded the case to the district court with instructions to enter injunctive relief consistent with the opinion.

A petition for an extreme risk firearm protection order may only be filed by a law enforcement officer, unless the respondent is a law enforcement officer, in which case the petition is filed by the district attorney or the attorney general. The required basis is “receipt of credible information from a reporting party that gives the officer probable cause to believe that a respondent poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to self or others by having in the respondent’s custody or control or by purchasing, possessing or receiving a firearm,” although the officer may also file a petition based on credible information that the officer collected while carrying out the officer’s official duties. The petition must set out the specific statements, actions or facts that support the belief that the respondent poses a significant danger and must be accompanied by a sworn affidavit signed by the reporting party setting forth specific facts.

Once a petition is filed, a court may issue an ex parte (without notice or hearing) temporary extreme risk firearm protection order if the court finds from specific facts in the petition that there is probable cause to believe that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury. This order requires the court to hold a hearing on notice within 10 days to determine if a more permanent order, a one-year extreme risk firearm protection order, should be issued. The one-year order may be renewed indefinitely in one-year increments.

Both the temporary and the one-year order require that the respondent surrender all firearms “in a safe manner to a law enforcement officer, a law enforcement agency or a federal firearms licensee immediately upon service of the order or as directed by the court.” A failure to do so, or the purchase, receipt or attempt to purchase or possess a firearm while an order is in effect, is a misdemeanor crime. Orders must be reported into the federal NICS background check system and state law enforcement must remove the orders upon their expiry or termination from any computer-based systems and databases used by law enforcement or others for identifying prohibited purchasers. Firearms surrendered to or seized by law enforcement pursuant to an order must be returned to the respondent within ten days following the expiration or termination of an order, in compliance with NM Stat. § 40-17-13.