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Thanks again Steve. It is very clear you are spending a great deal of time to help all gun owners in NM. I sent the Senator another e-mail...here it is.
Sen. McSorley,
As of today, I understand that SB 40 has still not been scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I would like to request an early hearing to give time to make it through the House. Similar legislation almost made it last year but ran out of time. There is much support for this bill and I believe if you schedule it early it will pass this year.
Please set a hearing ASAP to help us get this much needed legislation passed.
NOTE:[/b] I previously e-mailed you the following on January 28, 2010:
Subject: Senate Bill 40
I am writing to ask your help in getting Senate Bill 40 (Introduced by Sen. Munoz) passed this year. I am a law abiding retired businessman that has complied with all state laws, but I am not allowed to carry my licensed handgun into a restaurant that serves liquor.
The way our law reads now, someone who goes to an Olive Garden Restaurant has to leave any gun in the car, even if that person is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, because diners can purchase alcoholic beverages along with their meals. This leaves the customer unprotected if assaulted in the parking lot…..That's exactly what happened in California, when a customer leaving a restaurant was accosted by an armed robber, turned over his wallet but was shot anyway. Had this man had the ability to carry a concealed weapon into that restaurant, or his wife did, that man might be alive today. Of the 48 states that license for concealed carry in the U.S., only 7 states currently prohibit licensees to carry in restaurants - NM, LA, SC, NC, OH, MT, ND. If this bill passes, there will only be 6 states.
We believe that all citizens who may lawfully carry a concealed handgun should be allowed to carry concealed in ALL restaurants in the state of New Mexico.
1. Every individual has the right and responsibility to defend them self against unjustified threats of death or serious bodily injury.
2. The Constitutions of the United States and New Mexico guarantee the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
3. Criminals are not deterred by rules, regulations, and laws forbidding the possession of weapons. A man bent on mass murder will not be stopped by a rule forbidding him to have a concealed gun.
4. Violent criminals know that restaurant patrons are defenseless prey.
5. Law-abiding citizens may be at risk not only at dinner, but when walking to and from their car in a dark, secluded parking lot.
6. Law-abiding citizens may be forced to unnecessarily handle and unsafely store their loaded firearm in an unattended vehicle while in a restaurant.
7. Forty-three other states with over 4 million permit holders do not have this "restaurant ban" and have not experienced any problems.
8. It makes it very confusing to comply with the current law; which ones sell liquor, and which ones do not?? Can you carry or would you be in violation of the law?
For the foregoing reasons, I feel that all citizens who may lawfully carry a concealed handgun should be allowed to carry concealed in restaurants and clubs even if they sell alcoholic beverages for on premises consumption.
