New Mexico's Semi-Auto Ban Is Dead For Now

For a little while there, it looked as if New Mexico’s gun owners were going to have difficulty dealing with their state government in the very near future, as lawmakers had passed a bill banning sales of a wide range of semi-autos. Now, it appears that the bill will not advance in this legislative session, despite passing a Senate vote.

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Here’s what we told you about Senate Bill 17 when it first crossed our radar a while back:

“New Mexico state senators have introduced Senate Bill 17 (the work of senators Micaelita Debbie O’Malley, Andrea Romero, and Heather Berghmans), which would affect New Mexico firearms owners in several ways.

First, it directly affects them by banning the sale of the following items after July 1, 2026:

(1) a detachable magazine that holds more than ten rounds of ammunition;…

(4) a gas-operated semiautomatic firearm that can accept a detachable magazine;

(5) a gas-operated semiautomatic firearm with a fixed magazine that holds more than ten rounds of ammunition;

“It does not take a genius to guess which firearms they’re targeting with this ban—ARs are, of course, the main pattern of firearm they’re after, but this would affect a broad range of firearms beyond that. Even the classic Remington 74x-series semi-autos, the pride and joy of one-box-of-ammo-a-year deer hunters, would be affected, not to mention countless duck guns.

“The bill also bans the sale of modern .50-caliber rifles.”

You can see the whole write-up here.

Sen. Debbie O’Malley and Rep. Andrea Romero, who sponsored the bill, expressed their support even in the face of its death in political procedures, so don’t be shocked if it comes up again, or something similar comes up with the wording slightly changed to hopefully appeal to state politicos. For now, though, the legislative session is over and the bill did not make it to the House (along with SB 261, which would have prohibited firearms at a polling place for citizens and law enforcement). That buys New Mexico residents some time to organize and hopefully preserve their firearms rights into the future.