New Mexico: Ask Committees to Oppose HB 102

House Bill 102 has been referred to the House Judiciary and House Appropriations & Finance Committees. Please contact the members of these committees and tell them you don't want your tax dollars to finance gun control efforts in House Bill 102.

Programs that focus on intervention with at-risk groups could have a positive impact on crime, poverty, unemployment and a host of other issues which plague New Mexico. But, it's the who, the how, the what and the where (the funding comes from) that are the rub with House Bill 102.

It appropriates TEN MILLION dollars from the New Mexico general fund for fiscal year 2022 (and for subsequent years!) to the Violence Intervention Prevention fund. The state Department of Health, an agency already overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout, would administer the fund and award grants to municipalities and tribal governments for programs that focus on reducing or deterring "gun violence and aggravated assault" -- to the exclusion of any other types of crimes or root causes, such as alcohol or drug abuse. FIFTY PERCENT of the grant must be used to contract with "community-based organizations," which are undefined in the bill but are often a euphemism for gun control groups.

Additionally, the bill creates an 8-member committee to report to an interim legislative committee on strategies to prevent firearm injury and death, again, to the exclusion of other types of injury or causes of death. No doubt a laundry list of gun control recommendations would emerge from that process.

Getting a toe-hold in a state-sponsored grant program, creating a state-sanctioned committee to further an agenda, and using your tax dollars to do it is straight out of the gun control playbook.