Some public safety bills move forward in Legislature
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It’s only week two for state lawmakers, and there are some public safety bills that are moving forward already – and not easy ones.
A House committee already approved a massive bill reworking New Mexico’s criminal competency laws, yet juvenile justice reform is nowhere on the agenda.
In fact, the bill Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman started campaigning for back in October is still not filed. But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost just yet.
“I’m told by the leadership that they’re happy to get that moving as fast as possible,” said Bregman.
We do want to give state lawmakers credit for getting the ball rolling on several other public safety bills just eight days into this session. Those include proposals expanding New Mexico’s red flag law, increasing the punishments for school shooting threats, and one banning devices that convert semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic weapons.
“We have a situation where we have Glocks that are being made into semi-automatic weapons, made into automatic weapons. In other words, they don’t have to pull the trigger each time a bullet is shot, but they just pull the trigger, hold onto it, and there can be 30 rounds in 2.3 seconds,” said Bregman. “That’s a cop killer. That’s a weapon that then creates mass casualties, and unfortunately, just so many tragic deaths.”
Bregman says those devices – which can be created with 3D printers – are already illegal on the federal level. But he says they’re becoming extremely prevalent in New Mexico, especially among teen suspects, and the feds just can’t keep up with those cases.
So he wants a matching state law so local law enforcement can go after them.
“This isn’t about trying to ban a gun, this is about banning a device that takes a gun and makes it something that is already illegal on the federal side,” said Las Cruces Police Department Chief Jeremy Story. “This is something that we are seeing across the state, and if you’re not seen in your community, you will, they’re too easy to get.”
That proposal was approved Thursday on a party-lines vote, but there’s still a long way to go for all these proposals.