Gun groups assembled to file a lawsuit on Tuesday against Maine’s new 72-hour waiting period to purchase firearms, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. The coalition is seeking an injunction to stop the law from being enforced until the case is decided.
The lawsuit contends that it’s illegal to make someone wait three days to buy a gun if they’ve already passed a background check. They argue their stance is supported by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that altered gun restriction standards.
“Nothing in our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation supports that kind of ‘cooling-off period’ measure, which is a 20th century regulatory innovation that is flatly inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s original meaning,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
“This law is nothing more than an attempt to deny law-abiding Mainers their constitutional rights while doing nothing to stop criminals who ignore these ineffective laws,” said Lawrence G. Kean of the National Sports Foundation.
Supporters of the three-day law believe it will survive the lawsuit, including Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. The law took effect in August, making Maine one of a dozen states with waiting periods for gun purchases. The law is one of multiple gun control measures passed after October 2023 when an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in a mass shooting.
State Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, is ready to defend the law in court. “Waiting periods have been upheld across the country as a reasonable, limited regulation that does not infringe on Second Amendment rights,” he said.
The groups suing, including Gun Owners of Maine, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, also argue that there are many scenarios where a person should not be made to wait 72 hours to buy a gun, like domestic violence victims or people who are traveling. Plaintiffs also include gunsmiths and gun sellers who claim their businesses are being hurt by the law.
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The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Peggy Rotundo, a Democrat, said half of Maine’s 277 suicides involved a gun in the latest data from 2021 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and said she believes the waiting period law will reduce the number of suicides by firearm.
“I am confident that the 72-hour waiting period will save lives and save many families the heartbreak of losing a loved one to suicide by firearm,” she said.