The Alamogordo branch of New Mexico State University announced that it would no longer allow gun shows or events with gun giveaways on campus.
NMSU-Alamogordo
A photo of the Tays Center at the New Mexico State University-Alamogordo Campus. Photo via university website.
The Alamogordo Daily News reported the change in policy this weekend.
The New Mexico State University-Alamogordo (NMSU-A) Interim President made the announced last Wednesday. It looks like it will impact the Alamogordo Evening Lions Club and Western Frontier Gun Shows, which have used the Tays Center, a facility on the branch’s campus.
Dr. Ken Van Winkle, who has been Interim President since June 1, cited legal support from the main campus and recent mass shootings, including the one in Oregon on a community college campus.
“With some legal support from Las Cruces, which is our main campus and my gut feeling. It’s just not an appropriate place to have these gun sales,” he said according to the Daily News. “I am going to call it off for now. I think it’s just the best thing to do for our campus.”
A gun show in Houston, TX. Wikicommons.
The paper also contacted the city’s chapter of the Lions Club and Western Frontier Gun Shows. A member of the Lions Club, George Elizando, was quoted by the paper.
“We know who our enemies are. The gun free zone is where these killers want to go because they can do the most damage,” Elizando said. “To me that’s the tragedy.”
Elizando said that gun shows should be encouraged and students should “prepare to defend themselves.”
Gun shows in particular have received attention over the past few years, as some have attempted to close what they call the “gun show loophole.” At gun shows, those who purchase guns from a private seller do not need to undergo a background check.
Such legislation passed the state House in 2013 but failed to make it through the Senate despite support from Gov. Susana Martinez.
