Two Republican legislators filed a resolution Wednesday seeking to initiate an impeachment trial against Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for her emergency public health orders suspending the right to carry firearms in certain public places in greater Albuquerque, such as parks and playgrounds.
Reps. Stefani Lord of Sandia Park and John Block of Alamogordo introduced a resolution accusing the governor of breaking her oath of office to defend the state and federal constitution.
“The point is that she has too much power,” said Lord, who founded the lobbying group Pro-Gun Women. “We’re just trying to tell her, ‘You have too much authority, and you’re acting like a dictator. “And we are going to impeach you.”
Block accused the governor of “violating the Constitution to make a political statement,” saying that Lujan Grisham had anticipated legal difficulties from the start.
Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said in an email that the resolution’s two sponsors are more interested in political stunts than crafting meaningful legislation, citing their bills to criminalize necrophilia and offer sex offenders early release if they agree to chemical castration.
“There’s not much to say in direct response to this inane effort” to impeach, Hayden remarked.
It is uncertain whether the resolution, which contains articles of impeachment, would go to public committee deliberations in the state House, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 45-25.
Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, issued the emergency measures last year in reaction to a wave of gun crime, which included the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old kid outside a minor league baseball stadium.
Gun rights advocates have filed legal challenges to the orders, pushing the New Mexico Supreme Court to overturn them. The court recently heard oral arguments in a case filed by Republican state legislators, the National Rifle Association, and various Albuquerque individuals, including retired law enforcement officers, former federal agents, certified weapons instructors, and the owner of a gun shop.
In federal court, a judge has permitted the gun rule to be enforced until legal objections are resolved.
New Mexico lawmakers began a 30-day session on Tuesday and might consider the governor’s extensive slate of gun proposals aimed at reducing gun crime, including a permanent statewide ban on firearms in public parks and playgrounds.