New Mexico’s House of Representatives is set to convene a hearing today on SB 17, a sweeping bill that would outright ban America’s most popular rifle—the AR-15—along with a laundry list of semiautomatic shotguns and pistols. This isn’t some fringe proposal; it’s a direct assault on the firearms that millions of law-abiding Americans own for self-defense, hunting, and sport. Proponents cloak it in the usual public safety rhetoric, but let’s call it what it is: a blatant infringement on the Second Amendment, targeting the gold standard of modern sporting rifles that have been scrutinized and upheld in courts from Heller to Bruen. The bill’s language mirrors failed assaults in states like California and New York, defining assault weapons by cosmetic features like pistol grips and folding stocks rather than actual functionality—proving once again that this is about control, not crime prevention.
The timing couldn’t be more suspicious. With the 2024 election dust settling and anti-gun forces emboldened by urban crime narratives they conveniently ignore, New Mexico Democrats are pushing this amid a national backdrop of rising violent crime in Democrat-led cities. Data from the FBI’s own Uniform Crime Reports shows semiautomatic rifles are used in a minuscule fraction of gun crimes—less than 3%—while handguns dominate. Yet SB 17 would criminalize possession of these rifles, forcing owners into a grandfathering nightmare or outright confiscation. For the 2A community, this is a canary in the coal mine: New Mexico, already burdened by lax border security and cartel violence, would disarm its citizens while leaving them vulnerable. We’ve seen this playbook—Illinois’s recent ban is tied up in courts, but the chilling effect is real, with gun shops shuttering and owners selling in fear.
The implications ripple far beyond Santa Fe. A passage here could embolden blue-state copycats, testing the Supreme Court’s Bruen standard that demands historical analogues for restrictions—good luck finding colonial bans on semiautos. 2A advocates, from the NRA to Grassroots America, must flood that hearing with testimony, pack the room, and light up legislators’ phones. This fight isn’t just about rifles; it’s about preserving the right to keep and bear arms against an ever-encroaching nanny state. Stand firm, New Mexico—your Second Amendment hangs in the balance today.
