Universal Background Checks
New Mexico has a serious violent crime problem and residents deserve a solution that will keep them safe without infringing on their rights. Progressive Democrats’ answer to our crime problem is to prevent law-abiding citizens from buying guns to defend themselves. Not okay with this? Neither are we.
The anti-gun lobby’s latest initiative, “universal background checks” as they call it, will require background checks for almost all firearm sales and transfers, including those between friends, neighbors, co-workers, and some family members. The policy is so poorly written that entire counties came out against it, and law enforcement officials overwhelmingly opposed it, explaining how impractical it is.
Additionally, 29 out of 33 New Mexico Sheriffs are opposed to this law because it is logistically unenforceable. Even more, federally licensed firearms dealers – the very people who progressives expect to complete the background checks – entered the debate in droves to speak out against SB8 because it contains too many contradictions to federal law.
The groundswell of bipartisan opposition to this bill from all across New Mexico shows just how out-of-touch the Progressives are. New Mexicans want their families to be safe – we do not want gun control forced on us by interests outside our borders that will only serve to make our communities more dangerous.
Studies funded by anti-gun groups have also consistently shown that expanding background checks have little to no impact on public safety. It turns out that criminals are still going to get the guns they need to commit violent atrocities, and the only real victims of background checks are innocent New Mexicans who want to protect themselves and their families.
This backhanded scheme, foisted onto us by progressives, criminalizes mutually beneficial transactions. It turns law-abiding New Mexicans into law-breakers while doing nothing to catch those who are actually doing harm in our communities.
From universal background checks to ammunition taxes to mandatory storage laws, progressive Democrats have a single goal: regulate and criminalize every single aspect of gun ownership, making it so onerous to own a gun that New Mexicans will be discouraged from doing so.
It is clear that SB8 is another weapon in the ever-expanding arsenal of anti-gun activists and legislators in our state. Join our movement to preserve our Second Amendment rights and fight back against this government encroachment on private transactions.