Dear New Mexico NRA Member:
Just a reminder that the Roundhouse is closed to the public during the 60-day legislative session. NRA-ILA strongly encourages you to testify remotely against HB 193 and HB 166 when the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee considers these bills on Tuesday, at 1:30pm (or upon final adjournment of the House from floor session). Testimony will be audio-only; you will not be appearing on video.
If you wish to testify virtually once the committee begins, click on the "Please click on this link for public comment for CPAC" feature in the upper left-hand corner of the CPAC committee page, here. This will put you in the queue to be called on by the committee once public testimony begins.
You can also join via zoom at this link, or by using iPhone one-tap by calling US: +16699009128,,89243737297# or +12532158782,,89243737297#.
To simply watch the proceedings online once the committee begins, you can visit http://www.nmlegis.gov and click on Webcast (select the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee broadcast).
This is certainly an unconventional session, but at least you don't have to travel to Santa Fe and sit in the Roundhouse for hours on end, waiting to testify against these gun control measures -- you can do it from your office or home! For more information on these measures, please see the alert below.
New Mexico: House Committee to Hear Expansion of Red Flag Law (HB 193) & Ban on Home-Built Firearms (HB 166) on Tuesday!
Dear New Mexico NRA Member:
On Tuesday, February 9, the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee will meet at 1:30pm (or upon final adjournment from the House floor) to hear two gun control bills and take testimony from the public virtually on the measures. You can access the committee's Zoom meeting and give testimony here. Please call and email members of the committee and urge them to OPPOSE HB 193 and HB 166.
House Bill 193 is an amendment to the red flag firearms surrender law that would allow a police officer to petition for an extreme risk protective order directly and to confiscate any firearms discovered when serving the order. Keep in mind that no crime has to be committed, or alleged to have been committed, for the order to be issued. New Mexico's ERPO law has been a failure, as has every gun-control law passed in New Mexico. No one has been made safer as anti-gun lawmakers, elected with the support of billionaire gun control financier Michael Bloomberg, have rushed to trample on New Mexicans' civil liberties with little or no due process. This law should not be expanded, it should be repealed.
House Bill 166 would essentially end the centuries-old custom of manufacturing firearms, or firearms components, for personal use. This proposed ban on self-made firearms would criminalize hobbyists who design, assemble, or manufacture their own guns or gun components. HB 166 creates a whole new list of felony offenses and restrictions that far exceed federal law:
* It would make you a felon if you manufacture or otherwise assemble a firearm and you are not a federally-licensed manufacturer or dealer, even if using a serialized receiver purchased from an FFL with a background check, or if you possess such a firearm made by a non-FFL.
* It would make you a felon if you manufacture or otherwise assemble a gun that has no serial number placed on the receiver or frame by a federally-licensed manufacturer or importer, or if you are not an FFL and you possess or purchase separately, or as part of a kit, a firearm frame or receiver that lacks an imprinted serial number.
* It would make you a felon if you use a 3D printer or similar device to manufacture a firearm or firearm component and you are not a federally-licensed manufacturer or dealer, or if you possess a firearm (or, presumably a firearm component) manufactured by a non-FFL using a 3D printer. Anyone making this technology, including digital instructions or design files, available for firearms or firearm component production to non-FFLs in New Mexico, would be a felon.