Friday, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an emergency public health order suspending the open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for thirty days.

The Democratic governor stated that she anticipates legal challenges but felt compelled to act in response to gun fatalities, including this week’s fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside of a minor league baseball stadium.

Albuquerque meets a threshold for violent crime rates, which is a requirement for the firearms ban. Police officers are exempt from the provisional firearms prohibition.

Lujan Grisham said the restrictions “are going to pose incredible challenges for me as a governor and as a state.”

“I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” she said at a news conference, flanked by leading law enforcement officials, including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area.

Several recent shootings in Albuquerque were mentioned by Lujan Grisham.

Wednesday’s road rage shooting outside a minor league baseball stadium resulted in the death of 11-year-old Froyland Villegas and the critical injury of a woman as their vehicle was peppered with gunfire as fans were leaving an evening game.

Galilea Samaniego, age 5, was mortally shot while sleeping in a motor home last month.

According to investigators, four teenagers entered the mobile home community in two stolen vehicles just before 6 a.m. on August 13 and opened fire on a trailer. The girl perished in the hospital after being struck in the head.

The governor also mentioned the August gunshot fatality of 13-year-old Amber Archuleta in Taos County. A 14-year-old boy shot and murdered the girl with his father’s gun while they were at his residence.