The Highwire with Del Bigtree - NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR’S ATTACK ON SECOND AMENDMENT FAILS

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

Citing a public health emergency, New Mexico governor Michelle Grisham revoked the 2nd amendment rights of residents of her state this week. After citing that constitutional rights and oaths taken by public officials were not “absolute”, she was quickly condemned by some of the highest officials in the state.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

It's known by policymakers that a lot can be done in times of war that can't be done in peace time. But the problem is wars only happen to, thank God, very few times in a century. So early during the COVID response, the failed COVID response, a lot of policymakers were paying attention, a lot of world leaders were paying attention going, wait a minute, we can radically change society and get policies really implemented in a rapid succession under a public health emergency. So in 2021, you started seeing headlines like this. Everybody's jumping on the public health emergency. Climate change is the greatest threat to public health. All the top medical journals warn. So they all in concert said, sounds like a great idea.

Let's just file this under there. But then came New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham. And she decided to take this one step further. Listen to this press conference that just happened recently. In this public health order, which is affected today, September 8th, which lasts 30 days and then we'll like all the other public health orders we will either amend or renew or adjust depending upon where we are so effective immediately no person other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer shall possess a firearm either openly or consistently consistent within cities or counties, averaging 1,000 or more violent crimes for 100,000, and more than 90 firearm-related emergency department visits.

We are suspending open and concealed carry. You took an oath to the Constitution. Isn't it unconstitutional to say you cannot exercise your carry license? license with one exception and that is if there's an emergency and I've declared an emergency for a temporary amount of time I can invoke additional powers no constitutional right in my view including my oath is intended to be absolute even her oath is not absolute that was very telling so where have we heard this for just just 30 days she said no she's not going to cancel it she said that we're going to just go ahead and maybe renew it or

just reformulate it this sounds a lot like just 15 days to slow the spread just 15 days and then we're going to reevaluate this situation people are pretty sick of this and you know another point she was saying besides the obvious this is an infringement on the second amendment of the constitution by by all intents purposes but she says any place with a thousand or more violent crimes for 100 thousand people she's basically talking about albuquerque one of the largest cities in new mexico but But advocates of the Second Amendment will say, well, this is exactly where I need my concealed carry is where there's a lot of violent crime because this is why I have it for self-defense. So the reasoning is very interesting, but this isn't a surprise.

There's a lot of bills in the United States right now and a lot of states that are being attempted to address some of the issues around gun violence. Now, it's interesting because in May of 2023, you started seeing headlines like this. America's gun violence is a public health emergency. There we go again, but politics and the courts prevent a proper response. Made another one. One way to prevent gun violence, treated as a public health issue. Well, that's just what Governor Grisham did.

And this is the headline she created with that press conference. Gun violence declared a public health emergency. Bingo. So let's look at that public health order. So this is from the New Mexico. Now it's not the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms division of New Mexico ATF. This is from the public health department of New Mexico. This is the actual public health order.

And it says, therefore I, Patrick M. Allen, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health, in accordance with authority vested in me by the Constitution and the law of the state of New Mexico and directed by the governor persuading to the full scope of emergency powers under the All Hazards Emergency Management Act to hereby declare that gun violence and drug use constitute conditions of public health importance. So here we go. All hazards emergency, public health emergency. see this is this is how they're filing any it seems like any type of a big political hot button issues is filing underneath that and they can you know attempt to really radically change

society even if it goes against the constitution so in that health order it also states that bernan leo county sheriffs are to their department is to dispatch additional officers and resources to deal with this problem so um burn bernan county county sheriff john allen got wind this, he made his own press conference and it sounded a little bit like this. The Burnlale County Sheriff's Office will not enforce this segment of the order. Well, I understand the urgency, the temporary ban challenges the foundations of our Constitution, but most importantly, it is unconstitutional. My oath was to protect the Constitution and that is what I will do.

The governor made it clear in her press conference. knew we as law enforcement did not agree with the order and as a result this was solely her decision. Other than this ban being unconstitutional, here are other reasons why I will not enforce the order. One what many forget is I have enough violence here in Bernaliel County. I do not want to have political violence towards my deputies or here in Bernalio County. My job is to keep the peace and to make sure that the citizens of Bernalio County are safe and I do not believe that this order will help me do so. I'm a law enforcement professional. This order will not do anything to curb gun violence other than punish law-abiding citizens from

their constitutional right to self-defense. It is quite irritating for me to see how this 30-day ban completely overshadowed the robust conversations that we had with the governor in the office on what we are going to do to curb gun violence and for people to stop being victims. It's one of the things that we learned through COVID as I toured the country. I didn't realize, I always sort of struggled with it. What's the difference between a police officer and a sheriff? But the sheriff is sworn to uphold the Constitution. That is their job.

And many of the sheriffs were the ones that pushed back on COVID. You know, even right here, I think it was in Dripping Springs or Hayes County where we do this show. Our sheriff said, I am not going to push forward the, you know, the, what is it, the quarantine or the driving. There was like times you could drive and couldn't. He just said, I'm not going to get involved in that. It's unconstitutional. So thank God for sheriffs.

And should we ever find ourselves in a struggle again, remember, it's your sheriffs that are going to be there for you. So when those elections come up, when you're thinking about a sheriff, don't just look the other way. These sheriffs ended up having a lot of power to protect our rights if they believed in them. So another thing that you should be looking at in your accounting and get to know your sheriff, super important for the times ahead.

Yeah, that's that's golden advice. And so Sheriff Allen gets this public health order across his desk. Understanding that this is the first time really in the history of United States has been a health emergency ban on part of the Second Amendment. But also this goes against a Supreme Court decision from just last year saying that the Second Amendment does allow for people to to carry their gun outside of their home for self-defense. So there's a double negative there. So strike one, the sheriffs are against. But now you have this is like if it wasn't so, if it wasn't so. series to be like a soap opera. We have Governor Grishim immediately responds to this. Here's the headline. Stop being squeamish. Governor responds to BCSO, not enforcing 30-day gun ban. She says this, I don't need a lecture on constitutionality from Sheriff Allen. What I need is

action. What we need is for leaders to stand up for the victims of violent crime. We're giving you the tool, Sheriff Allen. Now stop being squeamish about using them. I'm reading this, Delon, you know, there's a behavior of a public health official when they make some type of policy that is questionable. But then there's a behavior of a public health official, a whole separate action that really should be paid attention to when their sheriffs won't enforce it or their other people won't enforce it. Now how do they act? This is very telling. But it got worse for Governor Grisham because the attorney general of the state of New Mexico also went. This is New Mexico AG Raul Torres. This is the headline. AG says he won't defend Lujan Grisham administration

in gun order lawsuits. An amazing statement here, he says this, quote, though I recognize my statutory obligation as New Mexico's chief legal officer to defend state officials when they are sued in their official capacity, my duty to uphold and defend the constitutional rights, every citizen takes precedent. Torres's letter stated, simply put, I do not believe that the emergency order will have any meaningful impact on public safety.

But more importantly, I do not believe it passes constitutional muster. And so this is interesting. is really obviously a public health disaster for the governor, but it's a microcosm of how fast things can turn around in, we'll call it the post-COVID era. It took, it took, you know, over a year, sometimes two years for the legal actions to start really rolling, for masks to get rolled back, for people to get their jobs back, their payback. This took about a week. Now here's the headline in Reuters. U.S. Judge freezes New Mexico governor's gun ban. So it's done. It's, it's DOA not going to happen. This is a temporary, this is a temporary freeze, but I don't see this thing

being pushed back. This has been an absolute nightmare and disaster. Your AG, your sheriffs, they're not going along with you, and the public essentially has turned on her as well. So it'll be really interesting to see how this change is moving forward. I think she might need to just go back and maybe reformulate a plan. How about go back to read the Constitution of the United States of America? I think just start there. I think that that should be your punishment is you actually have to read a little bit of history, find out what you're actually talking about. And Jeffrey, one of the things that strikes me, and I think it's the important part of the story.

I mean, guns isn't necessarily a conversation that we get into a lot here on the high wire. But you and I, when we started working the high wire, when we started the highway back in 2017, and prior to that, I'd been speaking all over the world saying this vaccine issue, this medical freedom issue is going to prove to be the most important, the biggest issue of your time. This is the tip of the spear of how they're going to try and take your rights away. And here's exactly what we're seeing proven over and over again. What is it they used to take your guns away? A health emergency.

What is it that they took your rights to control what was in your body? What did they take your job away with? A health emergency. And so it's proving, you know, unfortunately, that we did have vision on that. And the high wires now diving into so many different spaces, whether it's financing. When you look at the World Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum, it's all coming back to health emergencies at WHO.

We're going to get deep into that with Christine Anderson coming up. But at the center of all this, everyone has their issues that care about. This is why we've been so dedicated to health because this is their way in. This is what they're going to try and pierce the Constitution of the United States of America with is this health emergency. Well, we're in an emergency, therefore I'm allowed to take all your rights away. No, you're not, thank God, that so many officials in New Mexico are standing up right now.