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Bill To Keep Guns From Domestic Abusers Heads To Senate

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UPDATE 2/11: The Domestic Violence and Firearm Possession bill has made it past the state House floor and now heads to the Senate. 

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Most states have adopted laws that restrict gun access to convicted domestic abusers. New Mexico is not one of them. The Domestic Violence and Firearm Possession bill could change that this year.

Seventy percent ofintimate partner deaths in 2014 in New Mexico involved a firearm, according to research from the University of New Mexico.

This bill would restrict gun access for people who have certain restraining orders against them or who’ve been convicted of things like abuse or stalking.

Claudia Medina said a gun is the last thing someone needs in an abusive relationship. She's with Enlace Comunitario, a group in Albuquerque that helps immigrants escape domestic violence.

 

"It really increases the potential for the violence escalating and most likely ending in death," Medina said.

A national study found that when an abuser has access to a gun, the odds of their victim dying go up by more than 500 percent.

 

Opponents are concerned that the bill could impede people’s Second Amendment rights.

 

Next, it heads to the House floor.

 

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Support for KUNM’s Public Health New Mexico project comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, and from KUNM listeners like you.

May joined KUNM's Public Health New Mexico team in early 2018. That same year, she established the New Mexico chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and received a fellowship from the Association of Health Care Journalists. She join Colorado Public Radio in late 2019.
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