NM bill would expand range of concealed weapons

January 25, 2011

A bill that would expand New Mexico's concealed-carry firearms law into some new places was introduced in the legislature today. The bill would allow people with concealed-carry permits to bring their guns into bars, schools, university classrooms, and buses. Supporters of the bill point out that those permit holders are people over 21 years old, with clean criminal records, who have passed a gun safety class. " This isn't a bill designed to allow kids to carry arms to school," said one of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Zach Cook, a Ruidoso Republican. "I wouldn't support legislation that would allow children to bring a weapon to school. This is for parents and other responsible, law-abiding adult citizens." Some lawmakers admit they are staggered by the idea. " The week after the Tucson Massacre, to have dreamed this up - really?" asked Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat. "This is almost incomprehensible to me. It just seems to me that it takes things in the wrong direction." Last year the legislature passed a bill that didn't go as far as this one. Now state law, it allows concealed-carry in restaurants that have beer and wine licenses.