by Kerry Dougherty
Why is anyone surprised that the governor of New Mexico has decided that a spike in crime constitutes a public health emergency that warrants suspension of 2nd Amendment rights of the people to carry a firearm?
When Americans merrily surrendered their civil rights three years ago during a health emergency, could they not foresee a perpetual state of emergencies, with tyrannical despots infringing on constitutional rights using the flimsiest of excuses?
I hate to say “I told you so,” but some of us tried to sound the alarm in the winter of 2020, but too many Americans were hiding under their beds to listen to us.
Now this:
On Friday, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, declared a public health emergency in Albuquerque and nearby Bernalillo County citing high crime rates and issued a 30-day ban on the carrying of firearms. She said she was likely to extend the order.
“I have emergency powers,” Grisham crowed. “Gun violence is an epidemic. Therefore, it’s an emergency!”
Never mind that of the five shooting incidents Grisham cited when suspending the Second Amendment, only two were in the Albuquerque area and chances are neither would have been thwarted by her unconstitutional ban.
She mentioned the death of a 13-year-old girl shot in July, but that child was killed by a 14-year-old friend. She referred to a 5-year-old girl who was shot in August and was the victim of a drive-by shooting and an 11-year-old boy who was shot outside an Albuquerque minor league baseball stadium who was the victim of a road rage incident.
Grisham also talked about two mass shootings. Reason magazine explained:
One of the two mass shootings that Grisham mentioned was carried out by an 18-year-old high school student, who killed three people in Farmington, a city in San Juan County, on May 15. The other shooting, which killed three people in Red River, a town in Taos County, on May 28, “stemmed from a confrontation among gang members” according to the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque.
Grisham knows that stripping gun rights from law-abiding Americans is unlikely to save a single life. She’s testing the water. If Grisham gets away with this unconstitutional move, look for other governors to play follow-the-leader.
It wasn’t all bad news coming from the governor’s mansions this weekend.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that he was granting a full and complete pardon to Scott Smith, the Loudoun County father who – at a school board meeting – was hauled out and arrested for disorderly conduct after school officials denied that his daughter has been sexually assaulted in a public school bathroom.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator was quietly moved to another school, where he assaulted another girl, while school officials continued to deny any knowledge of the crime.
“I spoke with Mr. Smith on Friday, and I had the privilege of telling Mr. Smith that I will pardon him, and we did that on Friday,” Youngkin said. “We righted a wrong. He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.”
“His daughter had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a school, and no one was doing anything about it,” he continued adding that the school superintendent had “covered it up.”
“Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, which is stand up for their child,” Youngkin said. “This was gross miscarriage of justice.”
Frankly, I believe that Mr. Smith should receive a commendation from the governor for remarkable restraint.
Had that been my daughter, watching school officials tell brazen lies about what happened would have launched me into orbit.
It was this case and others like it that launched Glenn Youngkin’s successful campaign for governor. His emphasis on parental rights is a winner.
Not only did he pardon Smith, but his administration is cracking down on defiant school districts that refuse to enforce the new requirement that parents be informed if their child claims to be transgendered.
The far-left believes there is only one appropriate, government-approved reaction to news that a child may be transgendered: parents must rejoice and offer “gender affirming care.”
News flash: it is not the job of parents to affirm every whim of their children. Kids belong to their parents not to the government.
The GOP has a winning campaign issue nationally and in state houses if they are smart enough to stop rehashing the 2020 election and make the upcoming contests about parents’ rights.
Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.
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