A bill that would increase penalties for felons in possession of firearms passed the House on a bipartisan vote, a rare crime-related bill to pass the House.
HB 316 passed the House 53-11.
The bill would increase the penalty for a felon possessing a firearm “or destructive device” to five years in prison.
Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, sponsored the legislation. Rehm has long supported increased penalties for crime and introduced a number of bills over the years, including this year. He said he has introduced this legislation at least for the last ten years.
Democrats and Republicans alike spoke in favor of the bill.
Rehm said both district attorneys and police officers have told him that they need this bill.
“We’ve got to get these violent felons off the street and we have to lock them up and make our communities safe and that our laws are lax,” Rehm, a former law enforcement officer himself, said
“It has been argued that increasing the penalty is not a deterrent,” co-sponsor Rep. Charlotte Little, D-Albuquerque, said. “However, at some point, we have to expect to be held accountable for our actions.”
Little’s brother was the victim of a high-profile fatal shooting at an Albuquerque movie theater.
Not everyone supported the legislation.
Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, spoke about how quickly the bill moved.
The bill itself received a fast-track through the process after a similar bill failed to pass in committee.
HB 316 began as a “dummy bill” on Jan. 31 with no language. The bill was then assigned to a single committee, the House Judiciary Committee, a week later. A committee substitute for the bill passed the House Judiciary Committee on a 7-3 vote.
A similar bill, HB 46, failed in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on a 4-0 vote earlier this year. Ferrary serves as chair of that committee.
“This bill was not passed in my committee, CPAC and this bill was brought back and circumvented our committee,” Ferrary said. “It just went to Judiciary. I don’t think that it’s right that this bill is going forward again and I feel that our process is being denied.”
She also said she did not believe the bill would be a deterrent to crime.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.