New Mexico Handgun Carry Laws

[SsevenN]

I was hoping someone out there is familiar with, or knows where to obtain a clean cut, black and white list of the handgun carry laws in new mexico, I'm wondering not just about CCW but open carry, car carry, essentally any info would be useful to a Yankee turned Mountain Time man like my self
thanks guys I always appreciate it

 

[SageMonkey]

Fairly easy to get a CCW, though there are strange provisions on qualifying with revolver vs semi, etc. Its a two day class, and is sometimes only available in larger towns, this can be a problem for some. Also you can not carry a BUG with a CCW.

You may carry concealed without a permit if you are on property you own or rent, or have the landowner's permission. You may carry conceal in or on ANY vehicle or conveyance you own or rent (including a bicycle!) or, again, with the owners permission. You must unload the chamber on a snowmobile. Felony to carry on a bus. Felony to carry in a bar or restaurant. Felony to carry without a permit in a store selling alcohol. Petty misdemeanor to carry without a permit, done fairly often though and a slap on the wrist unless you are committing some other crime at the same time then up to 6 months... actually heard ex-cops (two!) suggest it to people while they work on getting their permit, ymmv. Can't carry at a school or university. No local preemption. Can have an unloaded firearm most places except where alcohol is sold, etc, even if it is concealed. Can fire on land you can legally be on in most places (but not Bernalillo Co. and maybe some cities), so long as you are at least 150 yards from nearest occupied dwelling or have permission from those closer ,and you act safely. Felon's may not (under state law) have a firearm or black powder gun until 20 years after their sentence is over. Open carry is legal, except places with alcohol, schools, etc... open carry is generally accepted in rural areas, but in Abq and SF you might be questioned or harassed. Many people carry a car gun, its been said carjacking in NM is tantamount to attempted suicide. You can generally shoot a person unlawfully entering your dwelling, so long as a reasonable man would do the same. You can shoot if you reasonably believe there is immediate threat of death or serious injury to you or another. You may shoot, "if necessary", to defend property, that is a bit vague for my taste though. If you are in a fight, and it escalates, and you indicate you do not wish to fight, you regain the right to self-defense. If you ccw without a permit, case law protects you in the event of a good shoot.

In NM, guns are common and a way of life outside of the cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque... you actually visit people's houses and see guns leaning against the wall, or even see antique guns on the wall of a restaurant. In rural areas I have seen people hitch-hike with a rifle, to get back to their car or whatever.

IANAL, this list is just as a commoner remembers reading, always verify info on boards for yourself. For more information you might check out http://www.gunlaws.com/links/linksnm.htm

 

[SsevenN]

Thanks!

That was an excellent response I appreciate it
gotta love these Southwestern Laws

 

[Sistema1927]

Felony to carry in a bar or restaurant.

Um, not 100% correct. You can carry in restaurants just so long as they don't serve alcohol.

You may shoot, "if necessary", to defend property, that is a bit vague for my taste though.

Please point to the statute that allows the use of deadly force in defense of property. Unlike Texas, I don't believe that NM has any provision that would allow you to shoot a fleeing criminal to keep him from absconding with your TV.

 

[SageMonkey]

Quote:
Felony to carry in a bar or restaurant.
---
Um, not 100% correct. You can carry in restaurants just so long as they don't serve alcohol.

Yes, thank you for correcting this and saying what I meant.

Quote:
You may shoot, "if necessary", to defend property, that is a bit vague for my taste though.
---
Please point to the statute that allows the use of deadly force in defense of property. Unlike Texas, I don't believe that NM has any provision that would allow you to shoot a fleeing criminal to keep him from absconding with your TV.

Within the conwaygreene.com New Mexico Statutes section I find:

30-2-7. Justifiable homicide by citizen.
Homicide is justifiable when committed by any person in any of the following cases:
A. when committed in the necessary defense of his life, his family or his property, or in necessarily defending against any unlawful action directed against himself, his wife or family;
B. when committed in the lawful defense of himself or of another and when there is a reasonable ground to believe a design exists to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury against such person or another, and there is imminent danger that the design will be accomplished; or
C. when necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means, to apprehend any person for any felony committed in his presence, or in lawfully suppressing any riot, or in necessarily and lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.

and...

30-2-8. When homicide is excusable or justifiable defendant to be acquitted.
Whenever any person is prosecuted for a homicide, and upon his trial the killing shall be found to have been excusable or justifiable, the jury shall find such person not guilty and he shall be discharged.
italics added

I would dearly like to see case law on these, I found them one day when browsing through NM statutes and do not generally see them referenced. I will make note of the heavy use of the word "necessary", and I wonder if a prosecutor and jury would think it was "necessary" to shoot a nonviolent robber in the back to save a television.

I also do note that you can seemingly shoot someone to capture a felon, in certain cases, again though only if its "necessary".

 

[Cavalier Knight]

Since you're in NM I presume you've already been here if not hope this helps Department of Public Safety

 

[Blacksmoke]

Am I the only NM CCW permittee on this forum?

Yes, do visit the DPS website. it is informative.

A property crime alone will never justify deadly force. Life outranks property. For example, if deadly force is exercised by an adult on teenager who stole the Blackberry out of his car and ran down the street with it, well, that adult is in a heap of trouble. Not meaning to get preachy but there are some moral and value judgements a CCW applicant needs to work through before getting that license. The heat of the moment is not the time for philosphical debate.
My policy is that deadly force is not to be employed in a pure property crime and I will not shoot a burgalar. Having been burgaled three times, if I confront a burglar and he is armed, I hope I shoot first and shoot straight!

Each DA looks at self defense cases in their own way when making decisions about which cases to prosecute. It is highly political; e.g. the DA of Bernalillo County has a very different attiude than the DA of Taos judicial district. As part of CCW training course, our DA (Taos) gave a lecture on his interpretation of the all the laws and court precedents covering deadly force by civilians.


The point of this being the words in the NMSA will never be clear enough to cover all situations. It is up to the permittee and the DA to interpret.

 

[SMLE]

As of July 1st 2007, a CHL holder can carry in an establishment that sells alcohol for OFF PREMESIS consumption, such as a grocery or c-store/gas station.

 

[bltmonty]

Nice work sagemonkey. A great summary. I'm a CCw New Mexican...

 

[wishn4more]

How are the laws applicable to non-residents?

Supposin' I get to visit the beautiful state of NM this summer (from Texas), would I be generally excluded or included from the generally stated rules? i.e. Open carry would be fine? Concealed on private property (obviously no permit)?

Thanks!

 

[SMLE]

How are the laws applicable to non-residents?

Same as a resident. Open carry or, if you have a CHL that NM honors.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Also, the car is an extension of the home in NM.

Quick question... you can't CCW in a restaurant that serves alcohol, but you can OPEN CARRY, right?

EDIT: I'm reading some of the prohibited places... man, NM carry laws STINK.

 

[SMLE]

man, NM carry laws STINK.

They may not be as fragrant as Vermont's, but Illinois(among others) stink worse. My GF's family live in Ill. and although it hasn't come up yet, I will at some point have to tell her I won't enter that state unless their carry laws change.

 

[sailortoo]

"man, NM carry laws STINK". As stated, not the best, and not the worst. We NM CCW folks are currently working on the 2009 Legislative session, to propose reasonable changes to the NM Statutes (desirable, but radical changes are a waste of time and effort - the Legislature is capable of baby steps only). In any case, the best way for visitors and new residents to find the legal answers to OC and CCW, is with the NM State Statutes (difficult to follow some of it) - Department of Public Safety, Title 10; Public Safety & Law, Chapter8, Weapons and Explosives, Part 2 - CCW. That is one place to start.
sailortoo

 

[yahkohb]

Quick question... you can't CCW in a restaurant that serves alcohol, but you can OPEN CARRY, right?

definitely not. carry of any type, loaded or not, concealed or not, into any place that serves alcohol for on-premises consumption, is a 4th-class felony. this means you can't go to the gun shop, pick up a pistol, then go to the restaurant next door for lunch if they serve booze. doesn't matter if the gun is on you or in its factory box in a bag.

open carry is prohibited in any establishment that possesses a liquor license, even if they don't actually sell it: there was a case a couple years ago where a guy open-carried into a gas station, no booze was sold there, but the parent corporation held a liquor license for that particular address, and he was convicted. unfortunately the law is written in such a way.

as of last summer, concealed carry is allowed into establishments that possess a liquor license but do not sell liquor for on-premises consumption: grocery stores, Sam's Club, gas stations, some Wal-Marts, etc.

I've had my NM CHL for about four years now, and IMO, the carry laws in NM are overall pretty good (you'll find them in 30-2-* of the NM statutes). I'd still like to be able to carry into a restaurant, but the biggest annoyance was not being able to carry into grocery stores, and we got that fixed last summer.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Fairly easy to get a CCW, though there are strange provisions on qualifying with revolver vs semi, etc. Its a two day class, and is sometimes only available in larger towns, this can be a problem for some. Also you can not carry a BUG with a CCW.

No back-up allowed?

REALLY?

[EDIT]Never mind -- I found it.

10.8.2.16 TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF LICENSE:
A. Carrying only handguns listed on license. No person shall carry a concealed handgun of a different category or higher caliber than is indicated on the license issued to that person by the department. A licensee shall only carry one (1) concealed handgun at any given time.

I didn't realize the NM license included a list of "authorized" weapons, or the limitation to one concealed handgun. So NM recognizes my FL permit -- which doesn't list any guns or calibers. Is it safe to assume that I can carry any handgun in any caliber, as long as I only carry (concealed) one of it?

 

[Blacksmoke]

Dont feel too bad about the BUG. I am told that even NM LEOS are not permitted to carry a BUG.

This whole business boils down to your DA. Ours has made it clear he is not interested in prosecuting technical violations. However, if a citizen's use of deadly force is not justified and that victim is a relative of his, look out. The problem is he is related to just about everyone in the county except me and three other guys.

That would be life in rural NM.

 

[sailortoo]

Blacksmoke: reference the NM Statute on a BUG. I find the concept of a law that prevents a CCW permitee from carrying more than one weapon at a time (one weapon and you are "safe", more than one and you are a threat?) to be ludicrous - when you can have whatever you want in your home or in your car. So at a traffic stop the officer wants you to disarm your one "allowed" concealed weapon (for his safety), while you can have whatever you want on board, and he needs a warrant (or "cause") before he can search your vehicle. Ponder that! I would definitely like to see that statute corrected. We are still in pretty good shape for CCW and OC, compared to many other states.
sailortoo

 

[Blacksmoke]

Sailortoo, I am not in favor of limiting the number of guns a CCW Permitee or a LEO carries.

You have actually experiences a LEO disarming you during a traffic stop? That is bizare and questionable. He is seperating you from your property without cause. I would question that with an attorney and then send a letter to the Chief.

I spent a couple of hours on the side of a rural highway in southern CO with a State Trooper and an orphan elk calf I caught and was attempting to load into my truck to bring home for care and raising. The Trooper wanted us to wait for the game warden and get his opinion of my foolish notion. I wore a holstered 1911 under my jacket which had to be visible. He never even brought it up. AMazing differences in attitudes!

My point was that at least citizens and LEOS are in the same boat regarding BUGs. That was not an endorsement of the policy. Also, our DA, The Good, Just and Honorable Donald Gallegos, has the excellent sense not waste taxpayer dollars and his time on trifles. That might be one of the reasons he was re-elected this past week. (Sorry for the commercial).

 

[yahkohb]

the law says only one concealed handgun at any given time. so sure you can carry a BUG -- just make sure your primary isn't concealed. :banghead:

 

[Sistema1927]

Blacksmoke: Rio Arriba County?

I came "this close" to getting killed in TA a little over 30 years ago, it was only my Browning Hi-Power that saved my life, fortunately I didn't need to fire it.

Trust me, I didn't stop to report this incident due to the fact that I wasn't related to anyone in that county.