{"id":1233,"date":"2011-03-09T13:38:25","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T17:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2011-03-09T13:38:25","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T17:38:25","slug":"things-are-quirky-in-albuquerque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/things-are-quirky-in-albuquerque\/","title":{"rendered":"THINGS ARE QUIRKY IN ALBUQUERQUE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just spent a few pleasant days in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gun laws there are strange. \u201cOpen carry\u201d of handguns has long been legal there, but concealed carry didn\u2019t become lawful in NM until the 21st<\/sup> Century.<\/p>\n

There are some unique laws in New Mexico. A lawyer friend tells me it\u2019s illegal to carry any deadly weapon except a handgun, the latter either openly or \u2013 with a permit \u2013 concealed. This means it\u2019s technically illegal to carry a pocket knife. Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t discover this until late in my stay. Fortunately, the law is not widely enforced.<\/p>\n

Carrying a second handgun for backup is a safety practice that has much to recommend it, but is not allowed in The Land of Enchantment, pistol permit notwithstanding. For pistol-packers, most of the better restaurants are off limits because they have liquor licenses. You can carry in a restaurant that serves only beer and wine, so long as the gun is legally concealed and you don\u2019t consume any alcohol. However, even a teetotaler can\u2019t enter an establishment that sells hard liquor if he or she is armed, regardless of concealed carry permit. And the guy or gal with a gun openly worn can\u2019t step into the beer and wine premises, either.<\/p>\n

Hell, we found it easier to order pizza, buy a six-pack, and eat in my hotel suite. On the last night, though, we had dinner with a couple of friends from the criminal justice community at a no-booze restaurant, Mary and Tito\u2019s in Albuquerque, where you don\u2019t need ethanol to enjoy the James Beard Award-winning food.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think justice in self-defense cases would run strong in a state with as much Old West heritage as New Mexico, but I have my doubts. Locals told me of the decorated war vet and Federal officer who chased a burglar off duty, struggled with him for his gun when the fleeing felon turned and attacked him, and had to kill the criminal. The vet was charged with murder<\/a>, ended up browbeaten into pleading to voluntary manslaughter, and was reportedly saved from prison time only by intervention from the Governor\u2019s Office. What the (expletive deleted)? A few years ago, in another part of the state, I spoke at the sentencing hearing of an Otero County deputy <\/a>who had killed a cop-killer and was railroaded into taking a plea for manslaughter before I became involved. We were able to get him probation on the manslaughter charge, but because NM has a mandatory one-year sentence for any felony committed with a firearm, the judge was forced by the law (obviously against his will and good judgment) to put the cop behind bars.<\/p>\n

New Mexico is still a great place to visit. It has a wild beauty to it. I photographed a sandstorm beginning to build the night I left, and figured I should leave town before anyone blamed the sandstorm on the Arab.<\/p>\n

There are lots of good folks in Albuquerque, and some of ’em are shown here, taking a Massad Ayoob Group class on rules of engagement for armed citizens.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MAG20<\/a><\/p>\n

Great food in Albuquerque. No alcohol on premises, but some of us will trade Merlot for a Magnum any day.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tito<\/a><\/p>\n

Black cloud approaching the city is incipient sandstorm, which fortunately petered out.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just spent a few pleasant days in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gun laws there are strange. \u201cOpen carry\u201d of handguns has long been legal there, but concealed carry didn\u2019t become lawful in NM until the 21st Century. There are some unique laws in New Mexico. A lawyer friend tells me it\u2019s illegal to carry any deadly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-training","8":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}