New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an updated public health order Friday temporarily suspending firearms near playgrounds and parks in Albuquerque and the surrounding county after a federal judge temporarily blocked a broader order.
The suspension follows a recent spate of gun violence, including two deadly mass shootings in Farmington and Red River in May and the recent shooting deaths of three children in July through September.
Last Friday, the governor, a Democrat, declared gun violence and drug abuse a public health emergency, which included the suspension of open and concealed carry laws in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. The order temporarily banned the carrying of guns on public property with certain exceptions.
“The time for standard measures has passed,” Lujan Grisham said. “And when New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game – when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn – something is very wrong.”
The next day, the National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit against the state’s governor and health secretary over the suspension, arguing the orders violate the Second Amendment.
By Wednesday, a federal judge had granted a temporary restraining order on the suspension, blocking portions restricting the public carrying of a firearm.
A second lawsuit was also filed against Lujan Grisham and other state officials by Bernalillo County resident Randy Donk and the Gun Owners of America. The suit likens the executive order and public health emergency declaration to “martial law” and argues that it is a suspension of constitutional rights.
In Friday’s updated public health order, people in in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are banned from carrying firearms in playgrounds or parks, although parks managed by the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department or State Land Office are exempt.
Other portions of the order are similar or the same as the order issued last Friday.
“I’m going to continue pushing to make sure that all of us are using every resource available to put an end to this public health emergency with the urgency it deserves,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “I will not accept the status quo – enough is enough.”
Dudley Brown, president for the National Association for Gun Rights, called the order an “unconstitutional overreach.”
“Making playgrounds and parks safer for criminals to operate in does nothing to protect the law-abiding public, it’s sick really,” Brown said in a statement.
CNN’s Jack Hannah and Mitchell McClusky contributed to this report.
