Following local news over the long weekend was much like any other. "Shooting." "Shooting." "Officer-involved shooting." Living in the East Mountains – the semirural communities dotting the Sandia and Manzano Mountains east of Albuquerque – many of us think we can access the amenities of the state's largest city without suffering from its ills: the traffic, the homelessness and the violence.
But we can't escape big city problems here in the mountains. On Oct. 13, deputies from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department responded to a call reporting gunshots in Tijeras to find three members of a family dead along with the family dog and a young man covered in blood explaining he was trying to bury them.
It's a tragedy punctuated by mental illness, as the young man, now in custody, had been hospitalized in the last year for behavioral health issues, according to The Independent News, the East Mountain newspaper where this column is originally published.
In its coverage of the story, the Independent detailed a press conference held Oct. 14 by Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen. The alleged shooter made statements to detectives on the scene that he had killed his family along with other statements they thought to be "delusional." After he was taken into custody, the individual wrote notes about shooting at cell towers with thermal imaging on his house and "seismic waves."
This story is tragic and still unfolding. I was struck, however, by this quote from Sheriff Allen, a Republican: "The problem that I'm having just with the preliminary information that I have is if you went to get a mental health evaluation, even if you didn't have any homicidal or suicidal ideations, there needs to be some type of recognition within the system or notification of law enforcement that there are firearms in this house," Allen said.
"This is where the red flag law does come in, and where it does fail. It's keeping our hands tied," Allen continued.
I have written previously on New Mexico's red flag law, with heavy skepticism, as it was only invoked four times in the first 15 months after it was enacted. That was three years ago. Since then, law enforcement has received more training about the law, and more petitions have been filed.
As of Aug. 14 of this year, 51 petitions had been filed to remove firearms from individuals considered to be a danger to themselves or others, half of them in Bernalillo County. 46 petitions were filed in 2023. 95% of petitions filed have been granted by a judge.
Several news reports have pointed to the fact that the current process is somewhat onerous, including how a petition can be filed. Right now, law enforcement can only file a petition upon request from someone who a relationship with the defendant, such as family members, school administrators, or employers. Individual petitioners cannot file without law enforcement.
Proposed changes to the current law include allowing law enforcement to directly petition the court without a request from a petitioner, allowing petitioners to file with the court without going through law enforcement, and requiring firearms to be surrendered immediately when a petition is granted instead of the current 48-hour waiting period.
Allen pointed out better utilization of the red flag law isn't a failsafe. "I am not saying that the red flag law would prevent this triple homicide, but it would at least give an indication for detectives to do follow up to make sure that we are doing everything within our power to make sure that a homicide or a suicide does not happen."
And it's fair to say what works in Bernalillo County, which has the largest and best-equipped sheriff's department in New Mexico, may not work in every county across the state. 29 of 33 New Mexico sheriffs declared their opposition to the law when it was passed in 2020. I'm curious to know how many oppose it today.
I've said many times when it comes to foreboding and naysaying, I am happy to be wrong. It seems I may have gotten the red flag law wrong in my 2021 column. That's a good thing for the state. According to a CNN study of granted petitions filed from 2020-2023, 61% of the cases involved a named target. That's several dozen lives quite possibly saved.
In one case, an Albuquerque man who had repeatedly threatened his own suicide and to kill others was found to have 11 high-powered rifles and two handguns. He surrendered them willingly and acknowledged his mental health challenges, according to The Albuquerque Journal.
The first petition filed by the Albuquerque Police Department involved a man in the throes of a bipolar episode. APD filed on behalf of the man's mother and removed his weapons. The man gave CNN an interview weeks before he was to have his weapons returned and acknowledged that at the time it was best he not have access to guns.
I'm a lifelong gun owner and will always support individual rights to own firearms. The volume and lethality of available weapons today call for some commonsense measures to keep our communities and families safe. High-powered firearms are so prevalent that law enforcement can't tell who the good guys are anymore.
In April 2023, a Farmington homeowner was shot to death by local law enforcement when he opened his door holding his personal firearm. The police officers had gone to the wrong house in response to a domestic violence call. This is a tragic story that points to the challenges of the violence-charged culture in our state today. We expect law enforcement at a moment's notice to be able to tell the difference from the good guys, the law-abiding citizens protecting their homes, from the bad guys, the abusers, the violent offenders, the threats to our families and communities.
While not perfect, the red flag law is one step forward to make us all a little safer.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
