(NewsNation) — Debates over New Mexico’s governor’s emergency order banning people from carrying firearms in public in Albuquerque won’t be settled until the United States Supreme Court weighs in, attorney and legal analyst Andrew Lieb said.
The National Association for Gun Rights, alongside Albuquerque resident Foster Haines, filed a lawsuit late last week after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, temporarily suspended concealed and open carry laws in the city. Grisham cited a series of recent shootings, including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old.
The order has sparked arguments over constitutionality. The gun rights group says the suspension violates their Second Amendment rights, pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, NewsNation’s partner The Hill reported.
That decision found that firearm regulations must be based on the country’s historic tradition to be considered constitutional, The Hill noted.
“Anyone that’s jumping to a conclusion is forgoing the fact that this is unsettled law, and we need the Supreme Court to rule,” Lieb told NewsNation. “We all just don’t know until the Supreme Court tells us.”
Instead, Lieb said attention should be focused on the crimes that spurred the governor’s decision.
“Yes, as a constitutional attorney, I want to talk about what the U.S. Supreme Court could do to follow up on Bruen,” Lieb said. “But as a citizen, we need to be talking about how to stop the violence. How do we stop the deaths?”
NewsNation digital reporter Katie Smith contributed to this report.