NM NFA Carry Law

cosmolinelover

New member
So there is a bill before the NM legislature that is apparently aiming on banning the concealed carry of NFA firearms, which I guess could be construed as OK, but if that is the intention there is a slight problem I noticed.

http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/07%20Regular/bills/house/HB1114.html

C. Whoever commits unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon is guilty of a petty misdemeanor; except that the person is guilty of a fourth degree felony if the person commits unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon by carrying:

(1) a shotgun or a weapon made from a shotgun that has a barrel or barrels of less than eighteen inches in length;

(2) a rifle or a weapon made from a rifle that has a barrel or barrels of less than eighteen inches in length;

(3) a weapon made from a shotgun or rifle if the weapon has an overall length of less than twenty-six inches;

(4) a machine gun; or

(5) a firearm silencer.

Notice bullet #2, it says it is illegal to conceal and carry a "rifle or a weapon made from a rifle that has a barrel or barrels of less than eighteen inches in length;

Now granted, this law is aimed at concealed carry as I understand it, however it is concerning that all of a sudden rifles are potentially being defined as consisting of 18+ inch barrels instead of the 16+ inch like NM law defines.

Anyone have any input? Is this just a typo? Am I misinterpreting the law? It would be absolutely devastating if all of a sudden the definition of legal rifle lengths was altered. And even if it is only applicable in certain "illegal carry" cases, wouldn't it be a bad precedent to start referring to rifles as being 18+ inches in some cases and 16+ in others?
 
Follow Up:

I just talked with Rep. Rehm who proposed the new bill and he acknowledged the discrepancy in the bill between state and federal law regarding NFA items and said he is now working on re-writing it to conform to the standard NFA statues.

The system actually works.

-Cosmo
 
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