The Honorable Judge David Herrera Urias has blocked the New Mexico gun ban. This is a temporary measure, but this bodes well for the future. Let’s look at what this order did (and did not) do.

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• How Are Czech Gun Laws? (and Gun Stores)
• TFB Behind The Gun Podcast #64: Discussing Gun Patents with an Intellectual Property Lawyer
• Analysis: District Court Vacates ATF 80% Receiver Rule

Judge Urias held a hearing on September 13th. Five separate lawsuits were challenging the public health order, and all five were consolidated for this hearing. That means five separate attorneys were in the courtroom representing the various plaintiffs. Unsurprisingly, they won and the judge granted a Temporary Restraining Order.

Only one attorney appeared on behalf of the state. It seems that the Attorney General made good on his commitment not to defend the order beyond the bare minimum. The state would usually have more than one attorney present for high-profile arguments like this. The minutes also report no arguments made by the state, she only entered an appearance and made a statement about scheduling for the next hearing.

This TRO does not block the entire public health order. It specifically applies to Section 1, which contains most of the restrictions on carrying or possessing guns in public. It also blocks the portions of Section 4  “to the extent it imposes additional restrictions on the carrying or possession of firearms that were not already in place prior to its issuance.” As I predicted in the first TFB article, ” I would expect that some parts might survive, such as the portion offering free gun locks to all gun owners, or the provision that the order must be made available in Spanish.” Those parts of the order did remain in place, but we will see what happens with those provisions and the rest of the public health order in the preliminary injunction hearing set for October 3rd. Based on this TRO it is highly likely that the gun rights organizations will prevail at that hearing as well.