While law-abiding gun owners were celebrating our nation’s birthday last weekend, one candidate for mayor of Albuquerque was embracing an anti-freedom agenda and taking potshots at NRA members in New Mexico.  In an email appeal for campaign volunteers, Tim Keller highlighted his support for restricting the private transfer of firearms between honest citizens and urged his backers to “[s]tand with Tim and against the NRA.”

This is just the latest example of Tim Keller parroting the rhetoric of national gun control organizations financed by New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg.  On June 24, Keller issued a press release calling for "requiring background checks on all firearm purchases within city limits" – essentially the same Bloomberg-backed private firearm transfer ban proposal that failed miserably in the New Mexico Legislature this year.  According to the release, Keller also plans to "conduct a comprehensive review of gun seller licenses within city limits to ensure that all are up to date."  Since FFLs are already heavily regulated by the federal government, it's unclear what he hopes to accomplish with these redundant, and perhaps unconstitutional, proposed local regulations. 

Keller would do well to familiarize himself with the firearms preemption clause of the New Mexico Constitution as he stakes out policy positions.  Article II, Section 6 reads, "No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms." [Emphasis added.]   

Albuquerque has a serious crime problem that needs addressing.  But it won’t be solved with ineffective, intrusive, unenforceable and unconstitutional policies that are opposed by New Mexico law enforcement, only target law-abiding citizens, and have already been rejected by a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers.   Make sure your family, friends and fellow gun owners in Albuquerque know that Bloomberg is trying to force his out-of-step, out-of-state gun control agenda on local residents – and that his plan has been endorsed by at least one candidate in the October 3 election for mayor: Tim Keller.