You would think that the gun-hating Democrat legislators would learn something.  But they don’t seem to.  Personally, I would rather not discuss gun rights this legislative session.  I am ready to move on.  But yesterday I started getting hits on my old gun show legislation blogposts from search engine results, which means that there is legislation in the works…and it is probably time for me to write an update.

Ahead of the 2015 legislative session that begins in two weeks, Representative Miguel Garcia (Democrat, Albuquerque) has once again pre-filed legislation to “close the gun show loophole.”  I will never be convinced that there is a gun show loophole.  Whatever the “loophole” is, I don’t know.  We have freedoms.  And New Mexicans value those freedoms.  Freedom is not a loophole.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few years, it is that guns matter to New Mexicans.  Whether it is my Democrat friends who love to hunt, collect firearms and conceal carry or my Republican friends who teach and host “three-gun shoots” (some kind of competition?), it’s pretty easy to see that guns are an essential part of the New Mexican lifestyle.  They are part of our state’s heritage.  And they are valued.

No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms.

  – Article 1. Sec 6. of NM State Constitution

I’ve rarely run into anyone in New Mexico who hates guns or wants to restrict them.  Democrat or Republican.  Sure there’s that strange guy who has creeped up on me at numerous community events where I’ve sold gun raffle tickets and yelled “killing machines” (and sometimes vulgarities) at me, but he is eccentric and one of a kind…his British accent is also a giveaway.

While watching the polls during the Aubrey Dunn for Land Commissioner recount, the Democrat county chair in my area recited the horrors of trying to get out the vote among local Democrats.  “People believe Obama is going to take away their guns,” she said.  And went on to explain that try as she might, she couldn’t convince voters otherwise.  She claimed this was one reason she couldn’t get more Democrats to the polls (Republicans Congressman Steve Pearce and Governor Martinez won my county for the first time this past November).

While some might say that this bill only closes gun shows, it is only a step inching its way forward.  And its a step New Mexicans do not want or need.

I was amazed when my state Representative informed me that she had never received more emails than she did during the 2013 legislative session– and what were the emails about?  You guessed it…HB-44, the anti-gun show bill!

What does HB-44 do?!

I was interested in reading some of the language of HB-44, most especially the definition of a “gun show”.  (Read the bill here)

SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.–As used in the Firearm Transfer Act:

3. “gun show” means an event at which more than

twenty-five firearms are on site and available for transfer;