Gun-grabbers in New Mexico apparently broke the very laws they advocate for in pulling a firearms buy-back scheme to allegedly take legally owned guns off the streets.
Now, conservatives are asking if Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham or other state officials will apply the laws equally and hold their liberal allies accountable.
The issue popped up last week, as a Townhall.com report spotlighted the New Mexico controversy. According to columnist Kerry Slone, the anti-gun group New Mexicans Against Gun Violence, known as NMPGV, came up with a plan to go door to door with the Farmington Police Department to offer residents gift cards in exchange for their guns.
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The cops backed out because they did not get City Council approval. But NMPGV went forward with the plan.
Armed with $26,000 in gift cards, the group petitioned residents by offering $100 gift cards for long guns and pistols, $200 for semi-automatic pistols and rifles, or a $250 gift card for so-called “assault weapons.”
Eventually, NMPGV acquired nine guns from residents.
The problem was that in doing so, as Slone reported, the group violated a 2019 law that requires background checks for all private firearms sales. Such checks must be performed by federally licensed gun dealers.
One of the chief champions of the law was Miranda Viscoli, president of NMPGV.
As Slone noted, “Without the cooperation and assistance by any law enforcement agency, NMPGV’s actions met the legal definition of the passing of ownership, possession, or control of a firearm for a fee or other consideration,” which breaks the law.
Slone also reported that NMPGV failed to follow ATF guidelines in destroying the weapons.
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In response, conservatives began questioning whether NMPGV would be punished.
Republican state Rep. Stefani Lord told Slone, “The hypocrisy is that they may have violated the very laws they wanted by not doing a background check for the transfer of firearms. Also, since no law enforcement was there, we can assume she [Viscoli] did not do a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) check to know if she is now in possession of stolen firearms.”
The conservative website Twitchy.com also gathered some responses on X to Viscoli’s stunt.
“This is rich: Door-to-door gun buy-back group, trading gift certificates for private weapons, violated gun transfer laws in NM,” GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky posted, along with a facepalm emoji.
Dana Loesch, former spokeswoman for the NRA, added, “Miranda Viscoli deserves to be in jail. Either apply the law equally or abolish it.”
Another conservative user on X who goes by the handle Vincent La noted, “I hope they get prosecuted to the fullest extent. They advocated for those laws, so they should abide by them.”
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