I Emailed the BLM Albuquerque District Ranger about the legality of shooting on BLM land. He very kindly sent me a very comprehensive letter about the legality of this issue. These are on PNG format.





ETA I will post this in the general forum as well.

I think this should be added to the New Mexico Firearm Laws thread.

I read a thread somewhere with a citation of a Bernalillo County law that proscribes shooting anywhere in the county that's not an approved range, unless hunting etc.

I will add it when I get home. My phone browser is giving me hell right now

Did you mean prohibits? Because the only place that I've actually found it illegal to shoot is within 150 FEET of any trail or campsite, or within 300 FEET of a federal facility. I also found that they have different limitations of carrying on water-ways. But as far as my studies have found, only state and federal statutes apply while on BLM or NFS lands. Also, stay away from all BIA jurisdictions!



 

"Prohibts" is probably better but PROSCRIBE works too.

I started to type "prohibit" but had a brain fart. Either way, forbidden by law.

ETA:
I found that thread and snipped this from it:

SpaceCase
03-24-2010, 06:21 AM
It is not legal to target shoot anywhere in Bernalillo county that is not an established range:


Sec. 54-31. Discharge of firearms prohibited; exceptions; penalty for violation of section. (a)It is unlawful for any person to discharge any firearm in the county. This section does not prohibit discharge of a firearm by:
(1)Peace officers engaged in the performance of their official duties.
(2)Members of the armed forces of the United States or the National Guard when such members are engaged in the performance of their official duties.
(3)Persons exercising their rights of defense of self, property or others.
(4)A person in attendance at an authorized hunter's safety course or an authorized handgun safety course.
(5)A person engaging in the use of a firearm for target shooting at an established range authorized by the governing body.
(6)A person engaging in an organized competition authorized by the local governing body.
(7)A person pursuing legal hunting or trapping activities.
(b)Upon conviction of a violation of this section, the weapon or firearm shall be forfeited to the sheriff's department by order of the court.
(c)Violations of this section are punishable as provided in section 1-6.


-Space

I didn't mean to be the grammar police. I just wanted to be able to get my head around it in context.



The scope of my last post was geared toward BLM and NFS lands, not county lands. Sandoval county has similar statutes. But another post on another forum brought up a good point as to the constitutional viability of such statutes since article 2 sec. 6 of the NM State Constitution pretty much sums it up:



Sec. 6 Right to bear arms.

	No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. (As amended November 2, 1971 and November 2, 1986.)

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer.

Hey, grammar-check me anytime. It's usually needed.
I don't think "keep and bear" covers recreational shooting, but I could be wrong.

It should.



 

The  fourth paragraph on the first page sums it up:" "County wide " ordinances banning shooting on large geographic areas are zoning rules and are not enforcable on public land." In other words, federal law trumps local ordinances.

Be aware that many cops are not particularly well-versed in the law. You may still get illegally busted.

I go shoot at Cabezon.  There is a ranger there that greets people when they go shooting and asks that they clean up after themselves so that people can keep shooting on the BLM land.