Maybe somebody is worried about Dad, who has been way too depressed and scaring the family with hints of suicide. Maybe it’s a teenager who’s behaving too oddly. Or maybe there’s concern about a new child in the home.
Those are common reasons for families to get the guns out of the house and take them to a gun buyback. They will receive gift cards in return, but that’s just a bonus.
New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence (NMPGV) has a gun buyback program that has so far collected a couple of thousand guns around the state.
At one 2021 event in Las Cruces, 101 firearms plus two pellet guns were turned in. Of all participants, 57% said they acted for safety reasons; 47% of the firearms removed were assault or semiautomatic weapons.
So far, the buyback program has been considerably more effective than the state’s “red flag” or Extreme Risk Protection Order law. That’s the law that allows a family member or other authorized person to ask a law enforcement official to petition a judge to approve taking someone’s guns away. It now has two alternative acronyms: ERPO or ERFPO. “F” stands for “Firearm.”
The Administrative Office of the Courts tracks these orders. From May 2020, when the law took effect, through June 2023, the state had 33 one-year protection orders and 24 temporary orders granted. Not much.
Apparently, nobody was worried enough about Beau Wilson – not his family, not schoolmates, teachers or whoever sold him staggering quantities of ammunition, three days before he opened fire in Farmington on May 15. We can only imagine how agonized this teenage boy must have been to pull off his bulletproof vest and yell to police to kill him.
Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe has used the ERPO law three times, including once since May 15. When I asked, he said he never had the opportunity to intervene with Wilson because no one spoke up.
I wonder if this tragedy has affected attitudes in San Juan County, which is a so-called Second Amendment Sanctuary county, opposed to any gun law enforcement. The sheriff, who has jurisdiction outside city boundaries, has not yet returned my call.
But Chief Hebbe said he is well supported by the community and has had no lack of support on his handling of these extreme risk petitions.
Hebbe will become president of the New Mexico Police Chiefs Association in September. He said he plans to ask the Attorney General to develop a guide for law enforcement on how to use the law. Small towns especially, he said, don’t have the resources to provide adequate training.
Law enforcement officers are beginning to understand that ERPO is a tool that can be applied appropriately, according to Miranda Viscoli, Co-president of NMPGV. She travels the state extensively and talks with officers. Though most sheriffs are still on record as opposing the law with no exceptions, Viscoli thinks they are becoming more open-minded to the possibility of using ERPO in specific situations. That has not shown up in the statistics yet. Maybe the guidebook Chief Hebbe wants will help.
Meanwhile, if you are worried about guns in your home, you can get help turning them in or receiving a gun lock, at no charge. Contact NMPGV at (323)394-1131 or info@newmexicanstopreventgunviolence.org.
You have a right to know what your local law enforcement will do or refuse to do the next time an emotionally desperate teenager starts muttering about shooting up the neighborhood. I encourage you to go to the next meeting of your county commission, get a place on the agenda and ask. Then please let me know what they said.
© 2023 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES