co-sponsored the anti-gun trafficking bill in this year’s legislative session

Two New Mexico lawmakers say they plan to sponsor bills in the upcoming legislative session that would enact stricter regulations on firearm dealers like gun stores and pawn shops across the state.

State Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) and Sen. Heather Berghmans (D-Albuquerque) at a news conference Wednesday afternoon said they were alarmed by the findings of a new analysis of federal data on firearm trafficking. The report — published by Everytown for Gun Safety, a national organization that advocates for stricter gun laws — found that three out of four guns found at New Mexico crime scenes were originally sold by a firearm dealer.

The report, titled “The Supply Side of Violence: How Gun Dealers Fuel Firearm Trafficking,” urged legislative action to hold retailers to account for selling weapons that are later trafficked and used in crimes. Across New Mexico, in particular, it appears that most weapons recovered at crime scenes were trafficked, the report says. In nearly 90% of cases, someone other than the original purchaser possessed the gun used in a crime, an indication of a “straw purchasing,” in which someone legally buys a weapon and then sells it to someone who cannot legally purchase a gun or doesn’t want their name tied to the transaction.

Gun dealers are major source of trafficked firearms

The report ranked New Mexico fifth in the nation for most “crime guns” recovered per 100,000 people and fifth for the highest rate of firearm homicides.

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.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2023 called on state lawmakers to pass a ban on assault rifles and heavier weaponry like .50 caliber rifles. Romero co-sponsored the 2023 bill to prohibit assault rifles, which ultimately failed. The following year, Lujan Grisham in her State of the State address called firearm legislation “the most important work” facing state lawmakers and announced a “gun safety package” that would have banned assault weapons and raised the legal age to purchase a firearm to 21. Most recently, Romero sponsored a failed bill that would have banned gas-operated semi-automatic firearms, magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds and devices that can effectively convert semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons.

The recent Everytown for Gun Safety report found that the overwhelming majority of “crime guns” in New Mexico were pistols, though it noted that rifles made up a larger share of guns used in crimes in New Mexico compared to other states. 

Proposed laws in the upcoming 30-day legislative session are limited to budgetary matters and issues placed on the governor’s agenda. Romero and Berghmans said they have asked Lujan Grisham’s office to include this issue on her agenda.

“This is an epidemic of gun violence,” Romero said. She likened the legislative plan to that of combatting the national opioid crisis. Lawmakers and attorneys general across the U.S. went after pharmaceutical companies, which resulted in settlement payouts for thousands of local governments. “We know that the source — the seller of these guns — needs to be held accountable.”