A state representative who sponsored a bill that allows people to carry concealed weapons traced its labyrinthine path from committee to the governor's desk during a UNM College Republicans meeting Wednesday.
The event topped off "Buy Your Girl A Gun Day," a campus event sponsored by the student organization to educate women about gun safety in preparation for the first concealed carry permits, which will be issued in January. It came the same day that Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca challenged the concealed carry law in state Supreme Court.
District 44 Rep. Judy Vanderstar Russell, R-Rio Rancho, sponsored the bill during the last Legislative session. Republicans have tried to pass similar legislation for 20 years, she said. The bill passed at the last minute after lengthy wrangling in the House and Senate, both of which are majority Democrat. She attributed its passage to three factors - last year's defeat of Democratic House Speaker Raymond Sanchez; the hiring of a prominent Democrat to lobby for the bill's passage; and its focus on women's safety rather than depending on lobbyists from the National Rifle Association.
"Fifty women went to the House Judiciary Committee," Vanderstar Russell said. "These extremely courageous women talked about rape, being mugged, beaten and attacked. Every single one had a story to tell."
One woman who had served seven years in prison for killing her ex-husband when he attacked her with a knife said she would do it all over again, Vanderstar Russell said.
"She told them 'The seven years are over, I'm free and he's still dead,'" Vanderstar Russell said.
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The House Judiciary Committee added several amendments before reluctantly passing the bill, including the addition of a local opt-out clause, which allows municipalities to reject the law within city limits.
The bill then went to the Appropriations Committee, which was hesitant to pass it despite the amendments. Vanderstar Russell said the committee was convinced when she told members about her experiences as an abused wife in a previous marriage.
"I told my own story for the first time in 20 years," she said. "Even the liberals couldn't vote against it. Sometimes it takes the personal experience of the sponsor."
The House passed the measure as amended, but the Senate removed the local opt-out provision after a four-hour debate, only to reinstate it after the House rejected the amended version. Vanderstar Russell said various gatekeepers tried to keep the bill from passing right up to the final hours of the last day of the Legislative session.
Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, kept the bill on his desk for two weeks after the session ended, she said. If the governor doesn't sign a bill within 20 days from the end of the session, it is automatically vetoed. Vanderstar Russell called on National Rifle Association members to flood Lujan's office with telephone calls, and he eventually signed the bill and forwarded it to Gov. Gary Johnson, who signed it into law.
After protracted wrangling with the state Department of Public Safety, the state began taking applications for licenses in July. Vanderstar Russell said she had to wear down the safety department until they dropped a proficiency requirement that included a written exam and demonstration of ability.
She said she embedded a provision in the law that may make cities hesitate from opting to ban concealed firearms within their jurisdictions.
"Any municipality that opts out has to fork over the money to put up signs at every roadway entering that municipality to inform people," she said.
Vanderstar Russell said she wants to promote responsible, legal gun use.
"I'm working hard on taking our freedoms back," she said.
