Because of this:

The bill was prompted by a report issued last year by the New York-based Everytown for Gun Safety that found that of the 4,847 guns used in crimes in New Mexico that were recovered and traced by law enforcement officials, about 78% were originally purchased from licensed firearm dealers, primarily within the state.

Everytown drops reports like this specifically to drive legislation. What that report didn't do is find where any of those licensed firearm dealers did anything wrong in selling those guns. The fact that most came from a small number of stores is used as de facto proof that those stores are doing something wrong, rather than maybe that's just the store closest to where the straw buyers live or something like that.

The truth is, though, the report was an excuse.

This is about making it untenable to sell guns in New Mexico. This is about making it way too expensive to stay in business, thus depriving people of their right to keep and bear arms via regulating gun stores out of business, as opposed to just banning guns outright.

https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2026/01/29/things-get-heated-over-new-mexico-bill-targeting-gun-stores-n1231384