New Mexico Democrats are charging full steam ahead with what could become the most sweeping gun ban in the nation, targeting a vast array of semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines during their 2026 legislative session—and it might pass as early as this week. This isn’t some narrow tweak to existing laws; it’s a full-frontal assault on the tools millions of Americans use for self-defense, hunting, and sport shooting. Picture this: AR-15s, AK-pattern rifles, popular hunting semi-autos like the Ruger Mini-14, and even some shotguns could be lumped into an assault weapon blacklist, alongside magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Proponents cloak it in the usual post-tragedy rhetoric, but the fine print reveals a blatant power grab that ignores the Second Amendment’s core promise.
To grasp the stakes, rewind to California’s decade-long slide into gun prohibition hellscape status—where assault weapon bans have done zilch to curb crime (homicide rates there outpace the national average) while law-abiding folks jump through NFA-style hoops or flee to freer states. New Mexico’s proposal one-ups that, potentially banning far more firearms by vague features tests like pistol grips or adjustable stocks, echoing failed federal pushes like the 1994 Clinton ban that expired amid zero evidence of efficacy. Data from the CDC and FBI consistently shows rifles of any kind, semi-auto or otherwise, involved in a tiny fraction of gun crimes—less than 3% nationwide—yet here we are, with Dems in a super-majority legislature eyeing this as low-hanging fruit ahead of midterms.
For the 2A community, this is a five-alarm fire: if it sticks, expect a flood of lawsuits invoking Bruen’s text-history-and-tradition test, which already gutted New York’s concealed carry restrictions and New Jersey’s mag limits. But don’t sleep on it—New Mexico’s GOP is outnumbered, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s veto pen is as reliable as a jammed Hi-Point. Implications ripple nationwide: success here emboldens blue-state copycats from Colorado to Illinois, eroding the patchwork of gun rights and priming the Supreme Court pump for more circuit splits. Gun owners, rally your state reps, flood the capitol, and stock up legally while you can—this is ground zero in the war on our rights, and complacency is the real killer round.
