A pair of New Mexico lawmakers are demanding new restrictions on gun stores across the state, arguing that FFLs in the Land of Enchantment are fueling gun trafficking and violent crime. Their proof? An Everytown for Gun Safety "study" that claims 75% of "crime guns" in New Mexico were originally sold by a firearm dealer.
I'm honestly surprised that number isn't much higher, given that almost every gun in the hands of private citizens was originally sold by a gun shop, or at least transferred the firearm to its owner.
By itself, that statistic is meaningless, but Everytown argues that an untold number of gun stores are willfully turning a blind eye to straw purchases and "unlicensed dealers"; i.e. someone who buys and sells enough firearms that the should have an Federal Firearms License of their own, but do not.
Everytown claims that more than 930,000 firearms were likely trafficked between 2017 and 2023, "supplied by gun dealers—Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs)—who either knowingly or negligently turn a blind eye."
Got that? In no case are FFL's the victim of these traffickers. Oh no, they must be complicit in some way. Which brings us to the new effort from New Mexico State Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) and Sen. Heather Berghmans (D-Albuquerque).
Romero and Berghmans said they plan to introduce legislation in January that will place greater training and licensing requirements on gun dealers, similar to the requirements that barbers, cannabis proprietors and bartenders must undergo.
“We really want to focus on the adoption of security measures for these dealers, accurate tracking of their inventory, training for their employees,” Berghmans said. “We have regulations in the state of New Mexico that require a waitress or waiter to get a server’s license before they can serve alcohol so they can recognize people who maybe should not be served…we want firearms dealers to have the same type of training and the same type of licensing.”
Berghmans added that they want to “refrain from the selling of military-grade weaponry that could be used in the wrong hands.”
So, not only new mandates for FFLs, but a gun ban to boot. Romero has authored semi-auto ban bills before, but hasn't been able to get them to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham thanks to recalcitrant Democrats, but apparently she and Berghmans are going to try to muscle it through by making it part of a bill that, on its surface, may not sound unreasonable to many lawmakers.
As Berghmans says, you can't even serve booze in New Mexico unless you get a server's license, so why not similar licensing for gun store owners and their employees?
Well, these firearms dealers are already licensed by the federal government, for one thing. It's not like a waitress in Los Cruces has to get a license from BATFE before she can serve a margarita or an old fashioned to paying customers. The state of New Mexico also doesn't charge a fee to issue a server's license, though the server is expected to take an online course that can run them anywhere from $10 to $40.
I doubt that will be the case with a firearms dealer license. Illinois charges up to $1,500 for a state license, Colorado charges $400, A rifle/shotgun dealer's license costs about $250 in New York City, while a license to sell handguns will run you almost $500.
The cost of the license itself is bad enough, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. States that have their own licensing schemes for gun dealers also almost always impose security mandates that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Those costs have led some FFL's to pack it up and call it a day, priced out of their livelihood by anti-gun politicians who claim they're only acting in the public interest.
If these Democrats were serious about cracking down on gun trafficking they'd be taking aim at the traffickers themselves, not gun stores. And if they want to focus on public safety, they should really overhaul the state's juvenile justice system instead of trying to ban commonly owned firearms. When a 13-year-old can bring a gun to school, threaten students with it, and only receive a couple years of probation as punishment, something is seriously messed up. For too long New Mexico Democrats have been blaming lawful gun owners (and gun sellers) for the actions of violent criminals, and unfortunately it looks like they're sticking with that script for the 2026 legislative session.
