Albuquerque, NM - Newly-installed Speaker of the House Brian Egolf and his progressive Democrat cronies in the House of Representatives have thrown out the legislative rulebook to fast-track HB 50, a bill written by an out-of-state anti-gun group to undermine the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Mexicans. The legislation is being pushed by Everytown for Gun Safety, a group funded by Michael Bloomberg that funneled tens of thousands of dollars in dark money into a major super PAC to influence the outcome of several local legislative races.

Patriot Majority New Mexico, a Washington-based group funded by union money and other left-wing special interests, received a total $140,000 from Everytown Gun Safety last year to help elect progressive Democrats and influence legislation in New Mexico. $100,000 of that money went to pay for radio ads and direct mail attacks against Republicans in targeted races during the last month of the campaign. Bloomberg's group then dropped an additional $40,000 to the super PAC shortly before the start of the current legislative session.

Now that they've won the majority, House Speaker Brian Egolf of Santa Fe has fast-tracked the bill, allowing it to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Friday ahead of several Republican-sponsored bills that were referred to the committee first, in violation of House rules. HB 50 was sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, who received a lot of help from Patriot Majority in the last election cycle.

"Michael Bloomberg has gotten his money's worth out of Brian Egolf, Stephanie Garcia Richard and other progressive Democrats," said Republican Party of New Mexico Spokesman Tucker Keene. "Bloomberg's group donated that money expecting to grease the skids for this sort of anti-Second Amendment legislation, and that's exactly what Egolf has done. Egolf and his fellow progressive Democrats are earning their campaign cash by breaking the operating rules of the legislature for any big donor willing to pay."

In addition to rushing the bill through the committee process, House Judiciary Chair Gail Chasey attempted to rush through the law enforcement testimony against the bill. She even shut down Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk as he was reading a letter from Michelle Carlino-Webster, the widow of slain Albuquerque Police Officer Daniel Webster.

"If this bill passes, law enforcement officers will be responsible for enforcing it," said Keene. "Attempting to quiet their input because it doesn't conform to the agenda of a ultra-liberal dark money group is despicable."

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