If there’s a Great Slapstick Comedy Award in the world of guns, that award for 2023 rightfully belongs to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. After she issued her Executive Order, the governor found herself marooned on an artificial island she created using garbage gun control regulations. Local officials including the Albuquerque Mayor, City Police Chief, the Everytown-endorsed Bernalillo County Sheriff, the County District Attorney abandoned her quickly. The biggest humiliation came from the New Mexico State Attorney General, who told Lujan Grisham that he wouldn’t defend her Executive Order in court. Her allies among the various gun control groups, knowing that the Governor was giving the disarmament game away, maintained strategic silence.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Governor was quickly slapped with six different lawsuits in federal and state courts, while New Mexico lawmakers called for her impeachment.

While all that was underway, Second Amendment supporters came out and openly defied the governor by protesting while carrying firearms. Criminals, as expected, continued to indulge in their criminality and the death toll from crime continued while the Executive Order was in effect.

The final insult, however, is a sudden spike in gun sales in Albuquerque. The Epoch Times reports (archived links):

Spike in Gun Sales Follows Albuquerque Ban
‘There is definitely a joke in the gun community that the policies of the left are the greatest salesman of all time,’ one store clerk told The Epoch Times.
By Matthew Lysiak

An emergency order that banned the carrying of firearms in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico, appears to have backfired, as some gun stores in the city have reported the prohibition has led to an increase in sales.

“Today was the busiest day I’ve had in months,” Arnie Gallegos, owner of ABQ Guns in Albuquerque, told The Epoch Times. “I’ve been getting a lot of people who have never come into a gun shop before who are rightfully concerned about their freedoms.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘I can’t rely on the police anymore, and I need to be able to protect myself,’” added Mr. Gallegos.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham claimed guns to be a “public health emergency” last month in issuing a blanket 30-day prohibition against carrying firearms in and around Albuquerque. Ms. Lujan Grisham argued that the ban was needed to offer a “cooling-off period” in which authorities could address recent gun deaths.

“The time for standard measures has passed,” the governor said in a Sept. 8 statement. “And when New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game—when their very right to exist is threatened by the prospect of violence at every turn—something is very wrong.”

[…]

Walt Bracken, who owns the gun shop BMC Tactical in Albuquerque, told The Epoch Times that he has also noticed an uptick in sales at his business.

“People are upset,” said Mr. Bracken. “There is an attitude that our governor isn’t respecting our rights.”

A clerk at the Albuquerque gun shop Right to Bear Arms, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution, said that Ms. Lujan Grisham and overreach by other Democratic leaders have inadvertently been an effective marketing tool for the firearms industry.

“We have seen a definite jump in traffic because people are nervous, and rightfully so, when they think their right to purchase a gun won’t be around in the near future,” the clerk told The Epoch Times.

“There is definitely a joke in the gun community that the policies of the left are the greatest salesman of all time,” he added.

[…]

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge David Urias issued a temporary restraining order against the governor’s action on the grounds that it went against recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The restraining order extends to Oct. 3, when a hearing on the preliminary injunction request will be held.

[…]

Mr. Gallegos was relieved by the ruling but in no way believes it to be the end of government leaders trying to encroach on his liberty.

“This was a litmus test to see if they could get away with it,” said Mr. Gallegos. “I tell everyone, if you want to preserve the Second Amendment, don’t vote Democrat.

“The message is clear: don’t let anyone take your freedoms in exchange for the promise of safety because, in the end, you’ll have neither,” he added.

We have seen this repeatedly. Any time a politician merely talks about gun control, let alone issue an Executive Order like Lujan Grisham did, people go out and buy more guns. It’s like the Streisand Effect in the area of public policy. You would think that politicians would get it after watching the sales boom, but they consistently paint a picture of intellectual laziness, constitutional recklessness or both.