Calibers USA Albuquerque
Courtesy Calibers USA
Calibers USA Albuquerque
Courtesy Calibers USA

An Albuquerque, New gun shop has had enough of New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham’s heavy-handed authoritarianism. Louie Sanchez, owner of Calibers gun shop, says the Constitution trumps the governor’s pandemic over-reach. He plans to open his gun shop regardless of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s empty decrees and threats.

“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 told the local TV station.

Amen, brother.

Calibers’ owner assured the media and the public that he plans a responsible opening, including practicing social distancing between customers and staff. What’s more, Sanchez pointed out the obvious: his products help keep the community safe.

From KOB Channel 4 TV:

“So, we at Calibers have decided that we are going to open up with social distancing on our range,” Sanchez said. “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.”

Several groups, including the NRA, are suing the state over the Public Health Order– claiming it’s a violation of the Second Amendment…

A spokesperson for the governor said Calibers’ gun range is only allowed to stay open for law enforcement– and by appointment only.

The governor’s office released the following statement in response to Calibers:

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.?“ Nora Meyers Sackett, spokesperson for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

We have little doubt that Gov. Grisham will try to find some oathbreakers in the New Mexico State Police who will try to intimidate Sanchez into closing his store.

Time will tell if he tells them to fly a kite, too, or if they make him an offer he can’t refuse.

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83 COMMENTS

    • The shop needs to fully document all “safe practices” measures they’ll be following, then ensure that their security cameras are constantly recording all areas where any government agent(s) may to interfere. For example, here in Los Angeles, our Sheriff Villanueva sent groups of uniformed deputies directly to gun stores to enforce compliance with his diktat that they close down.

      If LEOs show up at Calibers to do the same, all employees should be polite as they meet them at the door and inform them (on camera, with the stream being uploaded to the Cloud for the public to view) that they will not comply with an unconstitutional order, and that the LEOs will be violating their own oaths if they fall back on the excuse of following the orders of their Mayor or Governor who themselves are violating their own oaths. To whit:

      “The Constitution of these U.S. is the supreme law of the land. Any law that is repugnant to the constitution is null and void of law.”
      Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137 (1803)

      If the LEOs persist, then the owner will need to be prepared for the likelihood of arrest, as well as a court challenge and subsequent battle.

        • Perfectly sums up the all too typical attitude of our badge wearing, costumed overlords in blue. Without Po Po willing to defecate on our rights no politician could tyrannize us. If you feel threatened by the political/bureaucratic class it’s because most cops are ready and willing to do the bidding of your oppressors.

          You can’t have a police state without the full cooperation of the police.

    • Leadership 101: Never give an order that you know will not be obeyed, and/or that you cannot enforce.

      The governor seems to be failing.

      • So we should shred all laws because we know some people won’t follow them?

        Now, I disagree with the governor’s decision. But the point of laws is that you hope that people respect them, but you have the power of government to enforce them if someone chooses not to.

        Open ended if police will enforce the order.

        If experience is anything to go by, they will.

        I understand its a stunt (with real belief behind it, so I guess it is less stunt and more statement), but hopefully the owner understands that if he loses his court cases down the road if police do enforce the governor’s order and end up arresting him that he is likely out thousands or tens of thousands if he wins.

        If he loses, he loses his FFL almost for certain. His business most likely. Also possibly some amount of his freedom. Many take principled stands willing to lose it all. This one still seems more appropriate to fight in court, before risking everything as that avenue has not yet been taken (IE the legal avenue before civil or criminal disobedience is taken. Which means he has not exhausted all of his options under the law).

        • There are no legal recourses for people in this country, the courts a weapon of the wealthy & the government, the whole point is to make it look like we have options but we don’t cause the wealthy and the government can afford to draw out the case until a regular person is broke and they can’t pursue their case anymore or they will derail you with technicalities & time limits for submitting forms they won’t tell you about or aren’t actually available anywhere or, you will get hamstrung by being outside of the courthouse crowd cause all the people no each other, they may gone have gone to school together and all deals & politicking they have going on.
          The judicial system we have is a vast complex maze meant to be impenetrable and the courts have plainly stated they are not there to help you if you don’t know how they work. A good government that is trying to serve it’s population has a simple legal system and as few laws as possible and for situations without a ready answer under the law you take to a judge and the judge should rule by the merit of the case precedent & legalese be damned.
          This man could likely lose his businesses from forced to close and the only people who are going to be helped by the government is the major corporations and folks who got the inside track to the Whitehouse, small business & regular people are getting nothing. They going to put as many out of work & out of their houses as possible why they bail out cruise lines that aren’t even registered as American companies and let corporate America have trillions of dollars with no oversight and no restrictions on all the bullshit spending they did with the last bailout and, the banks are doing forbearance on mortgages & leases but that doesn’t forgive any debt owed it just postpones the debt so small business that have to pay for their stores are going into debt with no means to earn money and the government and doing a damn thing to help those people.
          There is a saying “Never let a crisis go to waste” and the elite are enacting a plan to fuck everyone for the next couple of generations.

        • Would the Gun Store owner be breaking the law? Did the state legislators vote to close down the gun ranges and keep grocery stores open? Did the governor sign it into law? When a governor can arbitrarily decide which stores are necessary, shouldn’t the Constitution be part of the equation in that process?

        • Well seeing as how this. Cant be a law there is no law to it to be broken. You cannot contradict the rights laid out in the bill of rights. Otherwise we have no constitution what would be the point? At which time would cause civil conflict because now its tyrannical at its heart .

        • These are not laws. This is an executive order which contravenes established laws and Constitutional rights. There is a huge difference. Her edict is not law.

    • I was about to say “good to them” then went to their site to order some range .308 and see they are charging over 2 and 1/2 times the going rate for most of it…

  3. If I lived near the range, I would stop by and support them and thank them for their essential business! Long live liberty!

    • Why are they allowed to sell to law enforcement. Are they a special class? Their wives are more special than other wives? We don’t have magical powers to stop home invaders? We need the same tools that they do. Why won’t she allow appointments for everyone? Hypocrite.

  6. Need to make all these emperor wanna-be’s understand they’re JUST elected employees without the power to usurp the bill of rights! Whether they’re backed by Doomberg, Soros, Obama or anyone else.

  7. Why don’t a bunch of Oathkeepers show up and stand outside and defend their rights to be open if the police show up??? We’ll see who believes in their oaths or not……

  8. Perhaps as happened during the Rodney King riots and the Ferguson riots in St. Louis. A few Asians on the roof with AK’s and AR’s. Might reinforce the point. Sure took care of the Goonish activity in and around those businesses. Keep Your Powder Dry.

  9. Dear Calibers,
    Please refuse to do ANY business with the LE in your area.
    Sauce for the goose.

    • Yes. It’s for “officer safety”, since he’s letting the riff-raff in, we wouldn’t want the LE to catch anything nasty.

      • Gotta say he should not stop LE if he has contracts with different LE groups for training and qualifying. I certainly would not ask him to hurt himself that much knowing that over the long term we could not make up the economic loss he would suffer.

  10. Civil disobedience is the first step towards ridding ourselves of tyrants.

    If that doesn’t work it usually ends with heads on pikes on the palace lawn.

  11. Some real genius thinking there, Governess.

    Gun ranges are unsafe in the COVID era, so law enforcement officers should be exposing each other to the disease at gun ranges.

    • Oh, LIGHTEN UP, FRANCIS!! Current (as of this A.M.):

      Current death total from COVID-19 in the U.S.: 27,866
      Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.: 637,196

      Confirmed deaths from seasonal flu (THIS YEAR): 40,905

      In short, GFY.

      • I am fairly sure that, in addition to not understanding how extrapolation works, you did not understand this poster’s comment. Maybe you should be the one calming down.

        • Don’t trouble yourself Hannibal, ignorance of how pathogens work is just another manifestation of evolution at work.

  12. A sick part of me would LOVE to see a standoff between the Pig Devil Bootlickers and True Patriots outside of a gun store in New Mexico.

      • I mean, then they killed LeVoy Finicum in a related incident, so… just because they blink, don’t turn your back.

        • Exactly Casey. Remember Ruby Ridge when the jackbooted FBI and ATF thugs murdered Randy Weaver’s wife and baby. There is not much good to any of the FBI. They have helped the democrat party get away with numerous crimes over the last 40 years, including murder.

  13. Good enough for law enforcement, but not good enough for you. Once again, the Party of Fake Equality is working overtime at creating inequality.

  15. Does it raise a flag to modern socialist types when they use three names to sign their “official” documents?
    “… Nora Meyers Sackett, spokesperson for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham…”
    Are they paid on the basis of how many letters they can use?

  16. Albuquerque is a shytehole, one of the most violent cities in the nation, with a high per-capita rate of car-thefts and property crime, as well. Kudos to this guy; law-abiding citizens in that city need access to firearms and ammunition to keep the violent scum-bags at bay.

  17. Lujan Grisham is a silver-spoon socialist, a “Marie-Antoinette” type that literally tells the citizens to “eat cake.” With all the ballot harvesting that went on in New Mexico during the 2018 election, I believe an inordinate amount of vote fraud put this petty tyrant into office.

    • VA Gov. Blackface repealed voter ID laws. Without cheating and lies, they have nothing. Maybe we should all show up in VA and vote.

      • Sounds good to me. If the illegals, dead people, felons, fictional characters and every other criminal can vote then everyone else should be able to as well.

  18. America can do without her brand of “support” for the Second Amendment. People simply want to purchase a firearm and not get sick hearing spew from a gov. who by all accounts should never be a gov. No one is going to be a sardine in a can rubbing shoulders and sharing germs with anyone. Precautions are taken like those in grocery stores, etc. Let the sales continue.

    • What are you talking about? Gun stores are where ammosexuals go to have clipazine orgies with strangers and livestock.

      Ask any grabber.

  19. Attention AR strapped to your chest goobers–THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE.

    Real action, not play acting.

  20. One of the good things that will come from this so-called “crisis” is the carefully laid plans of the leftist freak-show in Santa Fe will be demolished by the economic reality of this pretend “crisis.” By shutting down the state, Grisham is literally cutting the throat of the Democrat monster. There is now a 2 billion dollar hole in the 7.6 billion dollar giveaway budget passed earlier this year. It’ll be entertaining to watch the rats scurry around trying to shore up their fanciful spending plans. I’ve already got the popcorn ready.

  21. As all gun control laws are un Constitutional and a pandemic does’t suspend our un Alienable rights Ever,N.M. tyrannical governor can pound sand and get bent at the same time,Eff Em.

  24. Pro gun organizations need to be t-ed up to fund people who are willing to be a test case.

    Sure, come at the store that stayed open. You won’t win by attrition. Our lawyers are as well-funded as your lawyers, and we have a media operation t-ed up, ready to go.

    Any adovcacy organiztion not standing by to do exactly that; if you can’t back situations like this, what good are you?

  26. Imagine a government with a pro gun attitude! It happened once before in a land right under our feet! It helped the people of the world fight off communism, socialism, fascism!
    Make these idiots read history and hold their feet to the fire on the oaths they spew, and then do 180degs!
    Carry every day!!!%

  27. Two questions.

    1.When does the governor’s current term of office end, and is there a viable opposition candidate?
    2. Does New Mexico law provide for recall of elected officials?

  28. Don’t need anything from their website right now and don’t really want anything for the money so if someone can find out what pro-rights org will back them I’ll make a hefty (for my budget that is) donation. This is a question that needs to be answered on no uncertain terms! Hear that SCOTUS?

    • I’m there with you. My guess is that if she wants to start something, SAF will be there petty quick. If so I intend to be putting some $$ in their hand pretty quick.

  29. I’ve been thinking our local gun store should do the same and tell Jay Inslee to EAT It. Of course we have that weasel AG Bob Ferguson who files lawsuits if the wind blows.
    The cost of defending a lawsuit could be expensive. A business has to look at all angles if they chose that path.

  30. I believe that you are absolutely correct. The Governor does not have any magic that can remove the Amendments to our Constitution and our Constitution trumps any Exrcutive Order!

  31. Calibers is a good business. Bought my first two silencers from them, excellent staff, nice shop, great service.

  32. That same gun store supported the passage universal background checks in New Mexico. Also, they did NOT open like they said they were going to.

  34. Well, if this gun shop behaved in an non-2A supportive manner in the past (I don’t know that, posted above is all) then if they do this thing well and proper and in a serious fashion then maybe they are tryign to right prior wrongs.

    Hey, I can be forgiving …. under the right circumstances.

    Not to Cheaper Than Dirt tho, those swine can kiss my ass.

  35. The supreme law of the land is not something petty little tyrant governors and mayors can skip around. These were set up to defeat those that believe they are the final word in our lives. The Founding Fathers knew the risks and the rewards of fighting all enemies foreign and domestic. Our new enemy is within our walls and in our neighborhoods. Those that want their freedom removed can go bury themselves in a hole. I say go for it sir the Constitution will prevail in all these cases. Live free or live in chians… I choose freedom.

  36. What part of “You can’t do that.” escapes this governor? There ain’t no “except” following “shall not be infringed.”

  37. How can any Governor or Mayor select which businesses can remain open and close others which are in the same business? I do not drink, however, the NM Governor closed liquor stores while allowing grocery stores and convenience stores to continue selling liquor. It does not make sense to me that certain businesses are considered essential while others are deemed non-essential by government officials.

  39. THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU VOTE DEMOCRAT!

    And how is it safe for cops to use the range but not the people that pay them?

    Last I heard 40 ABQ cops have the Wuhan coronavirus.

  40. Mr. Sanchez had better hire some dedicated armed security so the JBT’s can’t just shut him down at gunpoint. It’s past time for Americans to stand up to this out-of-control criminal government at all levels, and face them by force of arms if need be. Enough is enough!
    GROW SOME COJONES AND TAKE AMERICA BACK, PEOPLE!!

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