House committee backs memorial to study firearm safety as a public-health issue

The House Indian Affairs Committee voted to advance House Memorial 65, which asks the Department of Health and the Department of Public Safety to convene a task force to research firearm safety policies and recommend ways to reduce firearm violence across New Mexico.

Representative Diane Torres Velasquez, sponsor of the memorial, framed the issue as a public-health problem and said the task force would study causes of firearm deaths and injuries, examine data and pilot interventions. “Rather than looking at the issue of firearm safety as gun control or gun rights,” she said, “the suggestion from the group that worked on this memorial was to look at it as a health issue.”

The memorial proposes monthly meetings and a report deadline intended to feed the interim health committee’s work; the sponsor indicated a report timeline ending around September 15 so findings can be reviewed and inform the health committee.

Public commenters urged the committee to advance the memorial. Kathleen Mosley, a retired community-health nurse who identified herself as a gun-violence survivor, recommended a comprehensive public-health approach that uses data, policy, community programs and technology to reduce harm. A physician who identified herself as a family medicine doctor in Albuquerque described recent local shootings that injured patients and called for a cohesive plan to protect communities. Athena Christodoulou, representing a community group, said a well-structured work group can inform future legislation.

Committee members questioned the memorial’s scope and membership. Representative Block asked whether gun-safety instructors and representatives from rural and tribal areas would be included; the sponsor said the memorial’s suggested membership list was not exhaustive and committed to clarifying language to ensure rural and diverse stakeholder representation. A member also questioned a passage linking rising temperatures to higher suicide rates; the sponsor and other members said suicide-related gun deaths and mental-health correlates were among the issues the task force should examine, but committee members asked for clearer supporting data before voting.

After discussion, the committee recorded a roll-call vote of 4-3 to give the memorial a do-pass recommendation and advance it for further consideration. The memorial itself requests the two agencies convene stakeholders, collect and analyze data, and propose recommendations; it does not enact policy by itself.