By ROBERT NOTT
All Nathan Dial wanted was a piece of paper explaining the rules. The pistol he wore on his right hip might have delayed a response to his request.
Dial, 50, mayor of the small Southern New Mexico town of Estancia, went to the state Capitol Tuesday not only to hear Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's first State of the State address, but to get written confirmation of new rules banning weapons of all kinds during joint sessions of the state House and Senate -- such as the one in which the governor gave her speech.
"Every time I see some infringement on the Second Amendment, I don't just follow blindly," said the soft-spoken U.S. Army veteran on the opening day of the 2019 legislative session. "I seek clarity. I understand there is a safety issue, but why is there a safety issue here all of a sudden?"
Dial, who took his oath of office 10 months ago with a gun on his hip, said he's attended many sessions at the Capitol in past years while openly armed and never encountered a problem.
On Tuesday, however, he faced Capitol security guards and New Mexico State Police officers who were on hand to enforce the new weapons ban, implemented by the Legislative Council in December.
