ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It won’t be long until New Mexicans say goodbye to 2023 and usher in a New Year.

But before you make your New Year’s Eve plans, make sure you keep one item safely stored at home.

“We do want to send a strong message that guns aren’t allowed downtown, but especially in a liquor establishment, it is a felony crime. We are going to aggressively pursue those kinds of charges when they are available,” said APD Public Information Officer Gilbert Gallegos. 

APD will be on high alert for drunk drivers, but they say people ringing out gunshots on New Year’s Eve is also a problem.

“What we see and are more concerned about, I think, is that shootings of guns and the indiscriminate shooting of guns, and especially downtown. So we actually have our gun teams: Gun Violence Reduction Unit, Gun Violence Street Unit – they’ll be working overtime, primarily in the downtown area,” said Gallegos.

Gallegos says those bullets have to land somewhere, and the last thing anyone needs is a holiday tragedy.

“It’s just a recipe for disaster, if someone innocent just gets struck by the bullet. No intention, but there’s no reason to be shooting off a gun indiscriminately like that up into the air, it’s gonna land somewhere,” said Gallegos. 

Earlier this year, the police department implemented a gun-free zone in downtown with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In downtown alone, officers have recovered 30 firearms this year.

“Three of the cases that we’ve had related to firearm offenses, since we have implemented the gun-free zone with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, three of those cases are being prepared to be turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to see if they are going to prosecute them,” said APD Commander Nick Wheeler.