Lawmakers will hear public comment this weekend on a proposal to require background checks at gun shows.
Shopkeepers in New Mexico are required to run background checks on anyone who tries to buy a gun - convicted felons or people deemed mentally unstable are turned away.
But Paul Schmitt of New Mexicans for Gun Safety said gun shows are completely unregulated. There are legal options for people who’ve failed a background check.
“You would say well there’s a gun show around the corner here,” Schmitt described, “and you go over there and you could purchase a bunch of weapons and just take off with them.”
The House bill would make it mandatory for gun shows to conduct background checks. The Regulation and Public Affairs committee will review the measure on Saturday.
A similar bill was passed by the House in 2013 but stalled in the Senate.
Governor Susana Martinez has said in the past that she would sign a similar measure if it made it to her desk.
