Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's (D-NM) 30-day ban on concealed and open carry gun permits in the two counties around Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The order from Grisham came after she declared a public health emergency on gun violence, but it has been criticized by people on both sides of the aisle. Christie said her order was a "public relations ploy" on Fox News's America's Newsroom on Tuesday.
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"This is so clearly and blatantly unconstitutional. I think it will be knocked down. This is nothing more than a public relations ploy by a governor who is having trouble in her own state, understands how politically unpopular her border policies are, how politically unpopular violent crime that’s going on in New Mexico and across the country is. And she is attempting to cater to the grandstand. It is not going to work," Christie said.
"I think what you are going to see are the federal courts will come in here and stop her from doing this stuff. And you see pushback from people even in her own party in the state of New Mexico, saying, 'You don’t have the right to do this.' I was a governor, and I am for governors having real authority to be able to make sure the quality of life in their state is excellent, the people are safe, and law and order is enforced, but not by violating the Constitution. This is clearly violating the Constitution, and she needs to be reprimanded for it," he continued.
When asked about solutions to gun violence and crime, Christie said laws should be enforced and that, if elected president, he would direct U.S. attorneys to prosecute violent crime.
"As president, what I would do is order my attorney general in all of the cities where there is runaway violent crime — we know which ones they are, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York are just some of them — to make the U.S. attorneys in those cities take over the enforcement of violent crime if the prosecutors won’t," Christie said.
"And we have plenty of room in federal prison for people committing violent acts and ruining the quality of life in America’s great cities. America can’t be a great country if we don’t have great cities. As president, what I will do is make sure we enforce the law at the federal level if there are Soros-backed prosecutors who won’t do it in cities across this country," he added.
Under the ban in New Mexico, those who do not abide by the new restrictions will be fined up to $5,000. Those with carry permits may still transport their gun to some locations, such as a gun range or gun store, as long as the weapon has a mechanism that prevents it from being discharged.
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Officials in the Albuquerque area said they would not enforce the governor's executive action and criticized it as unconstitutional. The backlash to Grisham's order has come from Republicans and Democrats who said it goes against their constitutional oaths.
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen has called for the state legislature to convene a special session to oppose Grisham's order.