In recent years, New Mexico has taken important steps to improve its gun laws, but still has significant room for improvement when it comes to fighting gun violence.
In 2019, New Mexico enacted laws requiring a background check for nearly all firearm sales and prohibiting many people subject to domestic violence convictions or court orders from accessing guns. In 2020, New Mexico also enacted an extreme risk law authorizing courts to temporarily suspend firearm access from people found to pose a significant imminent danger to self or others. In 2020, New Mexico had the seventh-highest gun death rate in the country and exported crime guns at the 22nd-highest rate. To build on its recent progress against gun violence, New Mexico could invest in community violence intervention initiatives, strengthen its gun trafficking and child access prevention laws, and close loopholes that allow people convicted of violent crimes to access firearms.
What New Mexico Does Well
- Universal background checks
- Extreme risk protection orders
- Certain domestic violence gun laws
What New Mexico Is Missing
- Gun owner licensing
- Assault weapon restrictions
- Waiting periods
- Strong concealed carry law
- Open carry regulations
- Child access prevention laws
- Community violence intervention funding
- Lost & stolen firearm reporting
SPOTLIGHT
GUN LAW SCORECARD
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OWNER RESPONSIBILITIES
CHILD & CONSUMER SAFETY
GUNS IN PUBLIC
HARDWARE & AMMUNITION
OTHER LAWS & POLICIES
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We’re in this together. To build a safer America—one where children and parents in every neighborhood can learn, play, work, and worship without fear of gun violence—we need you standing beside us in this fight.
