New Report: Policies to Reduce Gun Violence in New Mexico
Mlenny from Getty Images Signatures
A new guide from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health offers strategies for New Mexico lawmakers to strengthen their efforts to reduce gun violence. Though New Mexico has made substantial progress in passing policies to prevent gun violence in the state, gun deaths have continued to increase over the past decade, with 530 New Mexicans dying from gun violence in 2023. That is one gun death every 17 hours.
The Center’s gun violence researchers and public health practitioners have compiled a list of policies to better protect New Mexican communities from firearm-related injuries and deaths.
“Firearms continue to be the leading cause of both homicide and suicide deaths in New Mexico,” says Kathryn Fleisher, MPH, assistant policy advisor at the Center and lead author of the report. “It is imperative that state policymakers adopt these recommendations to effectively mitigate the ongoing public health crisis of gun violence. The policy approaches we outline here can and do save lives, only if lawmakers adopt them and implementers use them in practice.”
The authors have divided the recommendations into 9 broader categories:
- Establish Firearm Purchaser Licensing
- Strengthen Safe and Secure Firearm Storage Requirements
- Require Lost and Stolen Firearm Reporting
- Strengthen Public Carry Regulations
- Prohibit the Manufacture, Sale, and Possession of Large Capacity Magazines
- Enact Gun Dealer Licensing
- Codify an Office of Gun Violence Prevention in Law
- Fortify the Sustainability of Community Violence Intervention Funding
Strengthen Domestic Violence Prevention Protections
READ FULL NEW MEXICO ROADMAPDOWNLOAD NEW MEXICO POLICY CHECKLIST READ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“While New Mexico continues to strengthen its gun violence prevention efforts, significant work remains,” said Miranda Viscoli, executive director of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. "The Center’s roadmap offers a clear path forward for policymakers. Implementing these evidence-based recommendations can save lives and make our communities safer.”
This is the fourth in a series of state policy roadmaps the Center has released:
