Coronado Mall shooting shows need to enforce juvenile gun laws

Where are the kids getting the guns?

The Black Friday shooting at Coronado Mall last weekend and numerous instances of children taking loaded guns to schools — and seemingly everywhere else — have a lot of us asking where these kids getting these firearms. It’s illegal in New Mexico for a person under 19 to possess a handgun, and a law that took effect in July is supposed to hold adults accountable when their guns fall into the hands of children.

Still, chaos erupted inside Coronado Mall on Nov. 24 when 15-year-old Isaiah Montoya allegedly fired a gun near an entrance. Surveillance video apparently shows Montoya carrying a handgun while he ran through the mall chasing another teenager. After walking outside and taunting the other teenager to follow him, police say a shot was fired at the building from outside, leaving a bullet impact above the mall entrance.

Dozens of Black Friday shoppers scampered, running in every direction from the mall’s north exit. Some ducked into stores. Others took cover behind kiosks. Sadly, it was just another day in Albuquerque for some of these shoppers.

At least 117 police officers and a helicopter responded to the scene, some coming from a nearby pro-Palestinian demonstration. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said although it was a single- shot incident, the shooting “shook the community to its very core” on “the biggest shopping day of the year.”

He’s right. It did. No one initially dismisses the sound of gunfire in a crowded setting anymore. People instead run for their lives. It’s amazing and fortunate that no one was hurt by the gunshot or the ensuing mad dash for cover.

Police found a gun they believe was used in the shooting, a brass-colored CZ 75 B handgun that had been abandoned in a nearby bush. APD is running tests and analysis to link the firearm to the shooting and determine its origin.

The unanswered question is how did a handgun apparently get into the hands of the 15-year-old Montoya, who turned himself in to police a couple days following the shooting after his photo was widely distributed.

A state law that took effect in July allows prosecutors to charge people for negligently allowing a minor to obtain a firearm, but it’s rarely being enforced.

Under the Bennie Hargrove Law, a person who stores a firearm in a manner in which a minor obtains the weapon and brandishes it or causes injuries can be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. A person who stores a firearm in a manner in which a minor obtains the weapon and results in great bodily harm or death can be charged with a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The law was passed by state lawmakers in 2023 in response to the tragic death of 13-year-old Bennie Hargrove, who was gunned down at his Albuquerque middle school in August 2021 by another 13-year-old during a lunch break. Authorities allege then-13-year-old Juan Saucedo Jr. took his father’s gun to school the morning of the shooting. His father was has not been charged in connection to the fatal shooting.

Montoya’s parents told KOAT last week they don’t know where their son obtained a firearm. They said they don’t own any guns, so their son couldn’t have gotten a handgun from them. They also blamed the local school district for not resolving tensions between their son and the other youth he allegedly tried to shoot down at the busy shopping mall. Montoya is charged with shooting at an occupied building, disorderly conduct, unlawful possession of a handgun, unlawfully carrying a deadly weapon and property damage.

Investigators, prosecutors, state lawmakers, the governor and many others claimed at the time of the passage of the Bennie Hargrove Law that it would be another “tool in their toolbox.

“Holding gun owners accountable for failing to safely store their firearms is common sense,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said shortly before signing the bill. That’s true. The bill is a common sense gun safety measure. But even so, there hasn’t been a single prosecution of the Bennie Hargrove Law in Bernallio County since the law went into effect in July.

The only known utilization of the law is the prosecution of 39-year-old William Brown of Questa, whose 14-year-old son allegedly shot and killed a 13-year-old girl in Brown’s Questa home in July.

One prosecution in five months, despite the proliferation of guns in the hands of children throughout New Mexico. That’s it. Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman told the Editorial Board Friday he’s “absolutely” more than ready to prosecute cases under Bennie’s Law, when he’s presented sufficient evidence. However, the DA for Bernalillo County says it’s often difficult to track down a gun’s origin, saying investigators are doing the best they can. Many guns have been stolen or transferred multiple times, a process enhanced by social media, Bregman says.

But we can and need to do better. There were at least 17 guns reported or seized at Albuquerque schools last school year, but authorities don’t know where most of those guns came from.

Bregman has made five appearances at Albuquerque school convocations in recent weeks trying to impress upon youngsters the dangers of guns, the consequences of bringing guns onto school grounds, and the general message that guns “aren’t cool” in the hands of teenagers, even on social media. We hope the message is taking root.

Until it does, the public has a right to know where these guns in the hands of children are coming from. If they came from their parent’s homes, parents need to be held accountable.

Proposals for further gun safety measures, such as raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy certain types of rifles and a 14-day waiting period for firearm sales, will ring hollow and be little more than virtue- signaling if we don’t enforce the laws already on the books.

We don’t need more gun laws. We need better enforcement of the ones we already have.