02/11/2026
Please help us share this message.
-My name is Glen Fuller, and I own East Main Trade Center in Farmington. We have operated in San Juan County for 42 years, employ 11 New Mexicans, and we’ve spent decades contributing to the local tax base, donating to youth sports and nonprofits, and promoting safe, responsible firearm handling.
I’m writing because SB 17 doesn’t just “regulate” our industry. It is written in a way that will close businesses like mine and permanently change the lives of our employees and their families.
Here is the reality from behind the counter: lawful gun stores are the one place in the system where prohibited people actually get stopped. In 2025, we lawfully processed and transferred roughly 3,800 fi****ms through required federal procedures and background checks, and we had 34 denials. That means the background check system is doing exactly what it is supposed to do: stopping people who should not receive a firearm.
The problem is what happens next. Over 42 years, I have only personally seen prosecution in two cases involving lies on federal purchase paperwork. When a person is denied, that denial is a warning sign. Yet there is rarely follow-through against the individual attempting an illegal purchase. SB 17 does not fix that enforcement gap. Instead, it increases costs and risk for the lawful storefronts that already serve as the real-world checkpoint.
I’m also concerned the bill relies heavily on “trace” talking points that can be misunderstood. A trace typically identifies the first lawful retail sale—that is how tracing works. A trace does not prove wrongdoing by the dealer, and it does not establish that the original purchaser is the person who later used the firearm in a crime. Using trace statistics to justify crushing lawful dealers is backwards policy.
SB 17 then adds a new state compliance regime under DPS that duplicates what ATF already does, and it creates open-ended authority for additional security and surveillance mandates over time. For a rural business operating on tight margins, these are not “minor upgrades.” Whether intended or not, the practical effect is to price small dealers out of compliance.
Now the part lawmakers seem to have completely overlooked: pawn. Pawn is a major part of our store. Many working families in our community pawn items, including fi****ms, temporarily when they fall on hard times, then redeem their own property later. SB 17 is written around “sales and transfers.” If this bill makes it illegal for me to transfer a pawned firearm back to its lawful owner upon redemption, what exactly am I supposed to do?
• Do I keep someone’s personal property even though they are the lawful owner?
• Do I get sued by a customer because the state made it illegal for me to return what belongs to them?
• Do desperate people stop using lawful pawn entirely and turn to unsafe, unregulated, and illegal ways to get the money they need?
That is not a hypothetical. That is the real-world consequence of careless drafting. It will push people in financial distress into worse options while removing one of the few lawful, documented avenues they have.
SB 17 also goes too far in how it treats lawful businesses. It requires dealers to make records “available at any time” to law enforcement agencies and to allow “any law enforcement officer” to inspect those records during business hours. We are pro-law enforcement; our family includes officers. But “any officer” authority without clear limits is not good policy. If lawmakers insist on expanding access, the bill needs guardrails: who may inspect, what records, for what purpose, and what written documentation is required. A lawful business should not be treated as if basic constitutional protections don’t apply simply because we sell a constitutionally protected product.
Representative, I am asking you to vote NO on SB 17. If the House is determined to move something forward, then at minimum SB 17 must be amended to:
-Remove Section 7’s sweeping sales bans that collapse lawful retail;
-Create a clear, explicit pawn redemption exception so lawful owners can retrieve their property;
-Place hard limits on DPS discretion and fund any mandates the state imposes; and
-Narrow inspection authority with clear boundaries and due-process protections.
This is not about politics to me. This is about whether New Mexico will intentionally destroy lawful storefront dealers, the very places where background checks happen and denials occur, and replace them with a world where the only winners are black-market traffickers.
Please vote NO on SB 17.
Respectfully,
Glen Fuller
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Please join us in contacting the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee to oppose SB17.Tomorrow is our last real chance to stop this bill from passing. This committee hearing will occur at 1:30pm in room 317 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.
Please attend in person and send a respectful email to the following committee members:
1. Rep. Doreen Y. Gallegos (Chair)
• Email: [email protected]
• Office Phone: 505-986-4329
2. Rep. Janelle Anyanonu (Vice Chair)
• Email: [email protected]
• Office Phone: 505-986-4435
3. Rep. Joshua N. Hernandez (Ranking Member)
• Email: [email protected]
• Office Phone: 505-986-4215
4. Rep. Gail Armstrong
• Email: [email protected]
5. Rep. Art De La Cruz
• Email: [email protected]
6. Rep. Derrick J. Lente
• Email: [email protected]
7. Rep. Jimmy G. Mason
• Email: [email protected]
8. Rep. Marian Matthews
• Email: [email protected]
• Office Phone: 505-986-4248
9. Rep. Mark B. Murphy
• Email: [email protected]
10. Rep. Cristina Parajón
• Email: [email protected]
11. Rep. Linda Serrato
• Email: [email protected]
