According to Firearm Chronicles
A pawn shop and gun store in northwestern New Mexico that remained open, albeit with social distancing measures in place, despite Gov. Michelle Lujan’s order for gun stores to close has been hit with $60,000 in fines from the state Department of Health.
Papas Pawn and Guns owner Diane Rowe acknowledges she remained open, but says the fines shouldn’t be nearly as high as what the state has imposed, and believes she’s being targeted for standing up for her rights. “This is about our small businesses being just picked off,” Rowe said. “I am getting a hold of lawyers now and trying to figure out what we’re gonna do. I would like to be able to stay open. It’s my constitutional right to be able to earn a living.” Rowe said the store has been “very careful,” allowing only two customers in at a time and making sure that people stand 6 feet apart from one another.
She was part of a small resistance by owners of stores that have remained open or opened Monday in Grants after the city’s mayor, Martin “Modey” Hicks, ordered city employees back to work and encouraged businesses there to reopen in defiance of public health restrictions shutting them down.
Hicks was ordered Thursday by the New Mexico Supreme Court to comply with the health orders and submit a written response to the court.
We covered the situation in Grants, New Mexico here at Bearing Arms a few days ago when the mayor decided he was going to allow businesses in the Cibola County community to re-open despite the governor’s order. While some counties in the northwestern part of the state have been hit hard by the coronavirus, Cibola County has only reported 52 cases as of May 1st. Mayor Hicks said the fact that the county has been able to manage the pandemic, coupled with the economic devastation wrought by the stay-at-home order by Grisham, was what compelled him to declare the town was re-open for business.