Anson Stevens-Bollen
New Mexico has been a relatively small target in the National Rifle Association’s $9.7 million effort to influence federal elections over the past two decades.
The NRA’s political giving has come under scrutiny from students affected by the most recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a 19-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle killed 17 people.
“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” Emma Gonzalez, one of the survivors of the shooting, said at a recent rally that signaled a new political activism around gun-control by Americans not yet old enough to vote.
New Mexican candidates vying for seats in the US House and Senate—as well as one presidential candidate—have received at least $113,100 from the NRA since the 1998 election cycle. That’s a little over 1 percent of the $9.7 million the NRA has given to such candidates across the nation in elections between 1998 and 2016.
That’s according to an SFR analysis of data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. SFR’s review includes NRA money that went to candidates who won and lost races. For instance, the failed presidential campaign of former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat, took $1,250 from the NRA in 2008.
Catherine Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the NRA, noted gun-control groups spend big money to influence legislation too.
“Of course, the NRA does spend money and it does have a sophisticated and persistent messaging operation,” she said in a written statement. “But so do dozens of other organizations and causes.”
Mirroring a national trend, the NRA has directed a majority of its political largess in New Mexico to Republicans instead of Democrats.
Of the state’s congressional delegation, Republican US Rep. Steve Pearce, who is running for governor, has been the largest benefactor of the NRA’s giving in New Mexico, taking $28,900 in campaign contributions since the 2004 election cycle, when he received $12,900 from the NRA.
SFR asked all the members of the state’s congressional delegation—two of five who want to be the state’s next governor—questions about youth activism sparked by school shootings and what actions they’re taking that may help prevent another one.
“I think there are a number of areas where steps can be taken,” Pearce said in a statement. “Both in Parkland and at Aztec there were clear warning signs that reached the FBI, yet nothing happened. These serious lapses cannot happen. That is why I’ve recommended a resolution for disapproval of the FBI’s failure to follow procedure and fully investigate Nikolas Cruz before he took those 17 students as victims.
Pearce added he’s also planning to introduce a bill to install “metal detectors in every school,” and wants to consider allowing school staff to carry firearms.
US Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat also running for governor, did not receive any political contributions from the NRA.
Grisham says in a statement that Congress needs to address the issue on a number of fronts.
“Why do we allow gun sales to proceed without a background check to ensure that the individual isn’t a domestic abuser, seriously mentally ill, or a criminal?” she says. “Why do we allow the sale of military-style assault weapons that can be modified into fully automatic weapons in our communities? These are just a few of the many backwards laws and loopholes we need to fix.”
US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a Northern New Mexico Democrat, took $1,000 from the NRA in the 2012 election cycle and $2,500 in NRA money in the 2010 elections.
Lujan said in a statement that the “NRA has become out of step with what it means to be a responsible gun owner.” Linda Serrato Ybarra, a spokeswoman, said Lujan donated the NRA’s $3,500 in contributions to a “good local organization.” She did not name the organization.
“I’ve contributed the [NRA] contribution given over 6 years ago to an organization that helps victims of violence,” Lujan said. “The NRA has become out of step with what it means to be a responsible gun owner. Their support ended when I wouldn’t defend their outlandish policy positions — positions that I know would compromise public safety and would not prevent guns from getting into the hands of dangerous people.”
Lujan added: “While, I believe in the ability of responsible citizens to exercise their second amendment rights, I support overturning the Dickey Amendment which bans the use of federal dollars to research the gun violence epidemic, support universal background checks, support measures that prevent people on the terrorist and FBI watch lists from purchasing weapons, support limits on magazine size, support closing the gun-show loophole, and support a ban on bumpstocks. “
New Mexico’s two US senators, both Democrats, sent SFR detailed statements about their legislative actions on gun control.
“After years of continued gun violence and senseless mass shootings, our communities are weary from tragedy and grief, and deserve urgent, meaningful action from Congress,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich. “It is time for Congress to have the same courage and compassion as the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I am proud to stand with these brave high school students and will continue to fight for a legislative response to keep guns out of the hands of those that would turn them against our communities.”
The Albuquerque Journal in 2016 quoted Heinrich, a former member of the NRA who accepted $2,000 in 2010 from the group, saying he canceled his membership after deciding that partnering with sportsmen’s groups is a “better fit in protecting the Second Amendment and the outdoor traditions I want to pass on to future generations.”
Vanessa Valdivia, press secretary for Heinrich, said in an email the senator “will be calling for the repeal of the Dickey amendment, a policy enacted in 1996 that restricts the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from researching gun violence and its effects on public health.” (Lujan Grisham also mentioned support for such a plan.)
Heinrich “supports expanding background checks to all commercial firearms sales, limiting magazine capacity, and cracking down on illegal gun transactions by explicitly making straw purchasing and gun trafficking federal crimes,” she wrote. Heinrich is co-sponsoring the bipartisan Fix NICS Act led “to ensure federal and state authorities comply with existing law and accurately report relevant criminal history records” to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, she said, and he’s worked on measures to close loopholes in the nation’s background checks for domestic violence offenders.
The NRA has not donated money to Sen. Tom Udall’s campaigns. Udall said in a statement he’s grateful that young people “are channeling their grief and anger into action.”
“I hope their courage in demanding common-sense reforms stirs every member of Congress who has become desensitized to such a preventable horror—or allowed politics to get in the way of their judgment,” Udall continued. “I’m pleading with my Republican colleagues to move beyond the extreme positions of gun lobby Super PACs and special interests.”
Udall added he wants to rally support for reforms like requiring background checks at gun shows and limiting magazine capacity.
In the wake of the latest shooting, many youth are engaging more and more in political speech, too, with talks of rallies and nationwide walkouts in schools. Pearce was the only member of the congressional delegation who directly answered SFR’s question about his stance on walkouts.
“ School should be a place where students feel comfortable and safe,” Pearce said. “ I support students for speaking out on issues that affect their lives. Learning to do that and create change is an important part of being a citizen. I generally don’t believe a walkout will communicate any more clearly than what is being communicated now.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect comments from US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan and a contribution Sen. Martin Heinrich accepted from the NRA.
