An Albuquerque gun store is taking on the anti-gun policies of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The governor recently ordered gun stores closed amid the pandemic, shunning federal guidance concerning the gun industry. Now Calibers Gun Store is taking on the governor, defying her order to stay closed.

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New Mexico Gun Store Defies Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

“So, we at Calibers have decided that we are going to open up with social distancing on our range,” Louie Sanchez, owner of Calibers, told kob.com. “And you know what? We’re going to take this fight back to her. We feel that unless, somehow, she got a magical power to take the Second Amendment out of our constitution, that we have the right to open up.”

Sanchez also went on to say the store initiated social distancing practices to minimize the chance of spreading disease. Ultimately, Sanchez wants to keep his store open for business reasons, but also as a resource to the community.

“We are indeed doing education courses, just one person, one trainer at six feet social distancing,” Sanchez said. “And we’re allowing for military and law enforcement to utilize our ranges.”

Governor’s Office Response

The governor’s response attempts to minimize the impact on Sanchez, while also downplaying the importance of gun stores as essential services. The full response, attributed to spokesperson Nora Meyers Sackett:

The state has taken and will continue to take an extremely broad view of what is considered non-essential to public health amid this pandemic. Gun stores are hardly the only entity having to adapt as we work to stem illnesses and prevent deaths. No one is happy about closing in-person business in our state – no one, including the governor. But it is inarguable that the only way we get through this pandemic with the fewest number of deaths that we can manage is to limit travel outside of the home to the greatest extent possible – and while we as an administration unequivocally support the constitutional right to purchase a firearm, we recognize that right does not correspond to a right to congregate in a store and infect neighbors and workers and public safety officers amid an unprecedented global pandemic.