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New Mexico’s government enacted a 30-day ban on possessing guns, with some exceptions, in some public places in cities or counties that have experienced a high rate of violent crime or a high number of firearm-related emergency room visits in recent years; the suspension, issued as a public health order, currently applies solely to Albuquerque and its surrounding county.
The order applies to state property, public schools, and public parks, and there is no clear penalty for violating the directive. [Source New Mexico]
From Our Team
Last month, Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial and his partner were on patrol in the Kensington neighborhood when they spotted Eddie Irizarry, 27, and followed him onto a street where he was driving the wrong way. What happened next is at the center of a controversy that’s taken Philly’s Police Department “a hundred steps back” from its efforts to gain community trust: Five seconds after Dial exited his marked vehicle, he fired six bullets at Irizarry, killing him. And initially, a department spokesperson gave a false account of the shooting, stating that Irizarry had lunged at the officers with a knife. Police didn’t correct the record until a day later.
The killing has become the latest flashpoint in the strained relationship between cops and Philadelphians. Its aftermath — including the changing, and, at times, wrong police narrative — has resulted in what many believe to be a test for how city officials police the police. The Trace’s Mensah M. Dean has the story.
What to Know Today
Just days after the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last year, the CEO of Axon Enterprises, formerly called Taser, announced that the company had started developing stun gun-equipped drones that could be installed in schools to incapacitate active shooters. The move went against recommendations from Axon’s ethics board — but despite concerns about privacy and accuracy risks, racist impact, and the potential for injury or death, Axon appears to be moving forward with its armed drone plan. [The Markup]
Liberty Safe, which bills itself as “America’s #1 heavy-duty home and gun safe manufacturer,” acknowledged that it had voluntarily given the FBI the access code to one of its safes to aid an investigation into the Capitol insurrection. After public backlash from gun owners and conservative media, the company said it would only give law enforcement agencies access codes if it receives a subpoena. [The New York Times]
A 9th Circuit ruling is putting California laws that prohibit the open carry of handguns under greater threat. The three-judge panel found that a lower court “abused its discretion” when it declined to halt enforcement of the laws while a legal challenge plays out, and sent it back to the lower court with “instructions” on analyzing the constitutionality of the state’s restrictions. [Los Angeles Times]
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in U.S. v. Rahimi, the case that will determine if the government can ban domestic abusers from possessing guns, in November, according to a calendar released last week. The litigation is widely seen as a test of the court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which opened the door for challenges to gun restrictions nationwide. [Bloomberg Law]
Storing firearms for people going through a crisis can significantly reduce suicide risk, by way of putting time and space between a person and their gun. In Montana, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, lawmakers approved liability protections for people who store guns for others — but there are still legal and social hurdles to making the practice commonplace. [Montana Public Radio]
This post has been updated to clarify details of New Mexico’s public health order.
