New Mexico justices hear challenge to public health ban on guns in public parks and playgrounds

By MORGAN LEE
Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Advocates for gun rights are urging the New Mexico Supreme Court to block emergency orders by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that temporarily ban firearms at public parks and playgrounds by treating gun violence as a public health crisis. The state Supreme Court was scheduled Monday to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by Republican legislators, the National Rifle Association and several residents of the Albuquerque area including retired law enforcement officers. They accuse Lujan Grisham of overstepping her authority in violation of the Second Amendment and the state constitution. The governor says her emergency orders are warranted because of extremely dangerous conditions and drugs posing an imminent threat.