We already know that many gun owners, conservatives, and even a large number of Michelle Lujan Grisham’s fellow Democrats weren’t too keen on her effort to ignore the Constitution and suspend the right to carry in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County through her declared “gun violence” state of emergency, but a new poll shows just how widespread the opposition to her unconstitutional order is.

The New Mexico Shooting Sports Association is touting a new poll that found more than 2/3rds of residents who were surveyed object to the governor’s edit, and even more of them believe that criminals aren’t going to pay attention to Grisham’s carry ban.

New Poll shows 68% of New Mexico voters oppose Governor Lujan Grisham’s order on firearms. #2a #nmpol pic.twitter.com/CqESriruuY

— NM Shooting Sports Association (@NM_SSA) September 20, 2023

According to the survey conducted by co/efficient, 68% of the 1,367 likely voters who were surveyed said they were opposed to the governor’s order, with a whopping 83% believing that criminals would not respect the carry ban. In fact just 3% of respondents felt that criminals would obey governor’s edict, which makes me wonder how many of those who were surveyed are related to the governor by blood or marriage. I can’t imagine any other reason other that familial fealty to the governor that would compel anyone to think that a violent criminal would be dissuaded by the prospect of a civil fine when they’re clearly not worried about jail time or prison, but I guess the governor has a core group of supporters who are ride and die with her anti-gun ways.

Fortunately for gun owners and Second Amendment advocates, that base of support is small enough to fit into a SmartCar, with the vast majority of respondents rejecting the governor’s gun-banning ways.

● 83% of voters believe a crackdown on criminals is the best way to keep families safe

● 68% of voters oppose the firearms ban

● 89% do not believe criminals will follow the Governor’s order

● 91% of voters believe a person – not a gun – is responsible for committing a crime

● 71% of voters do not believe their community will be safer by disarming law-abiding citizens

Voters are overwhelmingly opposed to Governor Lujan Grisham’s order to ban concealed carry and find consensus on the impact this will have on gun-related crime. The disapproval of this ban is widely shared by both Republicans and Democrats, with 89% of voters – including 82% of Democrats – agreeing that violent criminals will not follow the Governor’s order.

When asked about firearm responsibility, voters are unilaterally in agreement, with an astonishing 91% stating that a person – not a gun – commits a crime. Notably, only 7% say that disarming law-abiding citizens will help keep families safe from harm.

New Mexicans strongly share the same view – their community is less safe due to Governor Lujan Grisham’s ban on the carrying of firearms by law-abiding citizens. There is broad agreement that violent criminals will still have guns and will still commit crimes. The ban on lawful concealed carry is proving to be overwhelmingly unpopular among all New Mexicans, with only 3% believing that criminals will respect and follow the ban on carrying firearms in Albuquerque.

As tempting as it might be for Grisham to dismiss these results as biased given that the poll was commissioned by a pro-2A group in the state, the fact that the vast majority of her fellow Democratic politicians rejected her order suggests that this survey is a decent snapshot of the depths of opposition to be found across the state. I would have loved to have seen the survey results broken down to solely include Albuquerque and Bernalillo County respondents, but as it is we’ve seen no indication that her order was any more popular where it was actually imposed than in other communities across New Mexico.

Will this poll make a difference in Grisham’s anti-gun agenda going forward? I highly doubt it, but at the very least it demonstrates that it’s not just conservatives or rock-ribbed Republicans who are opposed. Across the political spectrum voters have rejected the governor’s demand to disarm in the name of public safety, and the growing disenchantment with Grisham’s edict is very good news for gun owners and Second Amendment supporters as lawmakers and other public officials try to “do something” to address Albuquerque’s real problem with violent crime.