HEALTH & FIREARM SAFETY TASK FORCE

HM065

HOUSE MEMORIAL 65

57
th legislature
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
second session
, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

E. Diane Torres-Velásquez and Pamelya Herndon

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO CONDUCT
RESEARCH ON HEALTH AND FIREARM SAFETY POLICY AND TO MAKE
RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE FIREARM VIOLENCE IN NEW MEXICO.

WHEREAS, firearm safety is a public issue; and

WHEREAS, firearm violence is a public health crisis; and

WHEREAS, a 2024 report from Johns Hopkins center for gun
violence solution highlights the ongoing crisis of firearm-related deaths in the United States, including fatalities among
children; and

WHEREAS, between 2019 and 2023, firearm-related deaths
were the second leading cause of death for children; and

WHEREAS, firearm-related deaths take an average of twenty-four years away from their victims; and

WHEREAS, domestic violence assaults involving a firearm
are twelve times more than likely to result in death than those
involving other weapons or bodily force; and

WHEREAS, the collective responsibility of society is to
safeguard the health and safety of its members, including from
firearm harms; and

WHEREAS, firearm violence is a complex problem that must
be met with a wide range of solutions; and

WHEREAS, firearm violence exacts an enormous toll on
American society, claiming tens of thousands of lives each
year; and

WHEREAS, more than one million Americans have been shot in
the past decade, and nearly everyone in the United States will
know at least one victim of firearm violence in their lifetime;
and

WHEREAS, in 2023, New Mexico had the fourth highest
overall firearm-related death rate in the country; and

WHEREAS, according to the department of health, suicides
rose by nine percent in 2024, with firearms accounting for
sixty percent of the cases; and

WHEREAS, alcohol misuse is highly associated with both
homicides and suicides, and New Mexico ranks first for the most
deaths attributable to alcohol abuse, which includes both
chronic diseases like cirrhosis and injuries like homicide and
suicide; and

WHEREAS, gun violence continues to be a significant public
health problem in New Mexico and in the United States; and

WHEREAS, as global temperatures rise because of climate
change, suicide rates are likely to rise as well; and

WHEREAS, in 2023, New Mexico had the highest rate of gun
suicide among young people and New Mexico had a gun suicide
rate three times the national average; and

WHEREAS, research has shown a significant intersection
between gun violence and alcohol accessibility and misuse; and

WHEREAS, there have been two thousand nine hundred
eighty-one school shooting incidents from 1966 to 2025 in the
United States; and

WHEREAS, during the 2024-2025 school year, the Albuquerque
public school district recovered fifteen firearms;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department
of health, in collaboration with the department of public
safety, be requested to convene a task force to conduct
research on health and firearm safety policy and to make
recommendations to reduce firearm violence in New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force review and
consider the following:

A. effective firearm licensing laws and
regulations;

B. effective policies on semiautomatic and large
capacity magazines;

C. data demonstrating the effects of identifying if
any group should be prohibited by law from owning or purchasing
a firearm, especially relating to previous driving while
intoxicated convictions;

D. alignment of state and federal laws on the
consequences of a felon in possession of a firearm;

E. tobacco and firearms licensing prior to granting
a new retail license of a new gun or liquor stores; and

F. consideration of toxicology in perpetrators of
gun violence; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be composed of
representatives from the department of health; the department
of public safety; health care entities and hospitals; the
children, youth and families department; the public education
department; the New Mexico school boards association; community
and prevention stakeholders; the administrative office of the
courts; police chiefs of Albuquerque, Las Cruces or Santa Fe;
the Albuquerque community safety department; moms demand action
for gun sense in America; and Indian nations, tribes and
pueblos in New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the task force be requested to
report its findings and conclusions to the representatives of
the task force, the interim legislative committee dealing with
courts, corrections and justice issues and the legislative
health and human services committee by September 15, 2026; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the secretary of health, the secretary of public
safety and the governor.

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