{"id":30073,"date":"2023-12-19T00:58:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T07:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexicans-to-prevent-gun-violence-faces-investigation-in-san-juan-county\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:09:59","slug":"new-mexicans-to-prevent-gun-violence-faces-investigation-in-san-juan-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexicans-to-prevent-gun-violence-faces-investigation-in-san-juan-county\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence faces investigation in San Juan County"},"content":{"rendered":"Sheriff Shane Ferrari questions legality of group\u2019s operation; nonprofit says law is behind them\n

\"This
This is a photo of nine firearms destroyed on Dec. 16 in Farmington by New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office has opened an investigation into New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit group that planned a gun buyback in the community.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Shane Ferrari said after the buyback was canceled by the city of Farmington, the nonprofit came to Farmington on Dec. 16 and collected unwanted guns, despite the buyback being canceled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came here by themselves with no law enforcement, and did it anyway. It\u2019s the citizens that brought this to my attention, and we\u2019re looking into it,\u201d Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said he was not investigating New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, because he referred a few citizens to their website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had people who contacted us when they canceled the buyback who had guns they wanted to dispose of,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cI know they had four people that reached out. We had five or six that contacted us that were unhappy that we canceled it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hebbe said he was aware that the organization was going to \u201cfour different residences to cut up their guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence posted on their Facebook page that they were in Farmington on Dec. 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur gun buyback was canceled by the city, but local residents asked us to show up anyway. So, we spent today dismantling guns house by house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post included a photograph of several guns that were cut in half, which Ferrari also said could be a problem. \u201cFederal law says the gun needs to be cut in three pieces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ferrari added he needs to know whether the guns \u201cwere destroyed in the driveway of the house or were they destroyed in another location?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was completely chopped,\u201d said Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. \u201cAnd in fact, now it is going to an artist in Albuquerque, who is making artwork out of it. There\u2019s nothing any part of those firearms will ever be used again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrari also questioned whether New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence could be in violation of 2021 NM Statute\u00a0Chapter 30, Criminal Offenses\u00a0Article 7, Weapons and Explosives Section 30-7-7.1, regarding the unlawful sale of a firearm without a background check.<\/p>\n

Under this statute, a firearm can only be sold for consideration to \u201ca person who holds a current and valid federal firearms license issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C Section 923,\u201d law enforcement or a family member.<\/p>\n

Under the law, \u201cconsideration means anything of value exchanged between the parties to a sale.\u201d Ferrari pointed out the gift cards provided by New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence for the gun buyback, fall under this rule in the statute.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo gun was surrendered. We never left any homes with a firearm. We left homes with destroyed firearms, which are essentially wood, metal and plastic. That\u2019s what we left with,\u201d Viscoli said.<\/p>\n

She added that her organization did not violate the background check law, which New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence helped write.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had left a home with a working firearm, yes, that would have gone against the background check law. When you dismantle a gun on site with the owner of the gun watching, that does not go against the background check law,\u201d Viscoli said.<\/p>\n

\"Some
Some of the guns collected at a June New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence buyback event in Santa Fe. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI understand they are buying the guns \u2013 they are enticing people to come up there because they are giving them gift cards,\u201d Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

Viscoli said the majority of the people in Farmington \u201cdidn\u2019t want a gift card.\u201d Further, the gift cards are provided after the guns are destroyed, she said; \u201cThat is 100% legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are destroying them in front of the person, and we\u2019re also giving gift cards that aren\u2019t even close to how much the gun is worth,\u201d Viscoli said. \u201cIt\u2019s a thank-you for participating and making our community safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viscoli also pointed out that her organization has done 18 buybacks \u201cwith law enforcement watching us give out gift cards and dismantle guns. \u2026 Nobody\u2019s doing a background check on us every time somebody pulls up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she wished the \u201csheriff could see the relief on these people\u2019s faces that they no longer had to worry about this firearm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he would think twice about rallying up his troops against a nonprofit keeping his community safer from gun violence,\u201d Viscoli said.<\/p>\n

Ferrari said he has contacted other county and state officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the San Juan County District Attorney\u2019s Office and the New Mexico Attorney General\u2019s Office are reviewing my assessment,\u201d Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record <\/em>asked the New Mexico Attorney General\u2019s Office for a legal opinion concerning the statute and New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence\u2019s buyback program, and was told by Communications Director Lauren Rodriguez that \u201clegal opinions must be requested by a state official.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record<\/em> then asked whether this matter might be something that would be investigated by the Attorney General\u2019s Office should someone such as Sheriff Shane Ferrari request an opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m not sure what your question is specifically as I know New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence has all the firearms that are relinquished dismantled immediately, on site, and that all guns are run through National Crime Information Center,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record<\/em> asked again whether the buybacks were legal without a federal firearms license. Further, the newspaper asked whether the group could face a charge of tampering with evidence if a gun was later determined to have been involved in a felony crime.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s office did not respond to those questions, but Ferrari said the San Juan County District Attorney\u2019s Office and the state Attorney General\u2019s Office were reviewing his assessment.<\/p>\n

San Juan County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O\u2019Brien said his office was aware of the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize this issue and have been doing research and are now looking at other states that have similar laws and programs,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record<\/em> also reached out to state Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, who said he had already contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. \u201cIn this particular case, they (New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence) have a special privilege because of who they are,\u201d Sharer said.<\/p>\n

Ferrari, however, said he doesn\u2019t \u201cthink they\u2019re doing them (buybacks) lawfully both by state or federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting to be my impression, that they are a large voice in these gun regulation bills, so they think they don\u2019t apply to them, and they do,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to stop what they are doing. They have to follow the law like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrari said he received a call from a Bernalillo County lawmaker who was concerned that the organization \u201cchopped up a short-barrel rifle, and there has to be paperwork to the federal government saying it has been destroyed. You have to have a Class 3 license to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viscoli said she has chopped up more than 2,000 guns, and in Farmington there were nine hunting rifles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it curious that there\u2019s so much anger about nine firearms that were dismantled in Farmington, but nobody\u2019s talking about the real problem is gun violence in Farmington and San Juan County. And nobody\u2019s talking about the high rates of suicide with the majority of firearms in San Juan County and in Farmington. We\u2019re talking about nine firearms were destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viscoli added that 40% of the firearms destroyed by her organization have been semi-automatics and assault weapons. \u201cAnd yet suddenly it\u2019s these nine firearms that get everybody\u2019s holsters in a twist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record<\/em> also asked Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham\u2019s office for comments, and was told her office would sponsor a gun buyback on Jan. 6 in cooperation with the New Mexico State Police.<\/p>\n

New Mexico State Police Lt. Phil Vargas confirmed this, saying a location has yet to be selected for the buyback. He also stated that the agency enters the gun\u2019s serial number into NCIC to see whether they are stolen. If they are, \u201cwe will get it back to the agency as evidence as part of their case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargas also said the firearms collected are considered unwanted property so they can be destroyed. \u201cWe don\u2019t need a court order to do that,\u201d because \u201cif it\u2019s unwanted property you can just destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a weapon might have been used in a crime, the State Police runs it through their NIBIN program, which checks bullet markings against other bullets used in crimes. If guns are destroyed, the State Police cannot test bullet markings.<\/p>\n

Vargas said the State Police has run other gun buybacks in the state, and \u201cthere was a lot of participation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheriff Shane Ferrari questions legality of group\u2019s operation; nonprofit says law is behind them<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80954,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30073\/revisions\/80954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30073"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}