U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker has granted a preliminary injunction blocking Maine’s 72-hour waiting period law for firearm purchases, which was challenged by gun-rights advocates.
The law, passed in 2024 after Gov. Janet Mills allowed it to become law without her signature, required firearm retailers to delay delivery for three days after an FBI NICS background check approval.
“This decision affirms that unconstitutional delays on Second Amendment rights are not permissible,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “Rights delayed are rights denied.”
Judge Walker dismissed Attorney General Aaron Frey’s argument that the Second Amendment does not cover acquiring firearms, calling it “interpretative jui jitsu that would make Kafka blush.”
Plaintiffs include a domestic-abuse survivor and firearm instructor who helps other survivors defend themselves and an FFL forced to delay sales to those facing immediate threats. NSSF supported the challenge, emphasizing that the law emerged after the Lewiston murders due to pressure from gun control groups, despite a state commission finding systemic failures, not gun laws, as the cause of the tragedy.
“(The law) does not purport to be tethered to the time it takes to conduct a background check, or to any other investigatory efforts into whether someone is disqualified from exercising Second Amendment rights,” the lawsuit stated. “To the contrary, it forces law-abiding citizens to wait 72 hours to acquire a firearm even if they pass the requisite background check in a matter of minutes, which most people do.”
Prior to the decision, Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Gun Safety Coalition of Maine, told pressherald.com that waiting periods are both constitutional and make a difference.
“Seventy-two-hour waiting periods have been challenged in many states, and courts have consistently upheld them as constitutional in states across the nation,” Palmer told the news site. “They are, like all of the laws we support, a commonsense measure that saves lives while not impeding anyone’s (Second Amendment) rights.”
Indeed, Palmer is mistaken. There is no historical precedent for waiting periods, which is a crucial element established in the Bruen ruling and essential for adjudicating Second Amendment cases. That’s the primary reason the judge, in this case, likely ruled as he did.
As we have highlighted before, according to a fact sheet on waiting periods from the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), there is no evidence that waiting periods reduce suicides, homicides or mass shootings. In fact, no studies identifying causal effects have been recognized by any of the independent literature reviews conducted since 2004.
“Waiting periods are arbitrary impositions with no effect on crime or suicide, introduce no additional investigative avenues and only burden law-abiding gun owners without changing how or when criminals obtain firearms,” the fact sheet states.
Last year, the bill passed the state legislature by the narrowest of margins. The House vote was 73-70. In the Senate, the bill passed 18-17, but only after Democrats used a rarely employed procedural move to count the votes of two absent senators.
Some anticipated that Gov. Mills would veto the bill, while others believed she would sign it into law. Instead, she did neither—an avoidance that permitted the measure to become law without her signature.
“Seventy-two-hour waiting periods have been challenged in many states, and courts have consistently upheld them as constitutional in states across the nation,”
that’s disengenous. they upheld them because of interest-balancing and false-logic and bad faith arguments of the state. They were never actually constitutional.
That is an interesting point, how many have been challenged post Bruen besides this one?
A species of victory is still a victory.
A fact the Right should try to pick up from the Left.
We should require that mentally challenged people, a.k.a Democrats, wait for 72 hours after election day to cast their vote. This could save the lives of countless people by preventing the election of dangerous politicians.
We should require a (3 or) 10 ‘month’ waiting period of any democrat politician elected to office before they can assume that office. They should also be required to pass a background check, get a permit to run for office before they run for office, then undergo a training class to get a separate permit to hold that office and speak before they can hold that office. Then once in office if they make any decisions to vote for a bill or enact any sort of exercise of their office they need to be hauled out in handcuffs and subjected to the legal system nightmare to determine if their vote or action was valid and legal or not.
Those are the same concepts theses deranged democrat politicians want to impose on gun owners for exercising their constitutional rights to gun ownership-posession and defense so it should be good enough for them too.
wouldn’t hurt if they had to study & pass a test on the constitution as well.
What in hell is wrong with the legislators that pass this crap? The 2nd Amendment is only twenty seven words long. A cursory reading should be sufficient to conclude that this bill was problematic.
Some folks have extreme difficulty with just one word – No.
It’s all part of the Left’s agenda to disarm Americans. While the law may provide a ‘cooling off’ period for potential violent peoples, it also leaves potential victims vulnerable for the same 72 hours. Kinda a wash.
They understand the 2nd amendment just fine. They just don’t think that they should be constrained by it, or any of the rest of the Bill of Rights for that matter.
It is rather nice that Bruen keeps on giving even where you might not expect it to.
A bit spotty at this point, but overall headed in the right direction and seemingly starting to pick up momentum.
While I suspect there will be a need to keep an eye on things to reinforce that the areas in which Bruen is used to strike down laws don’t turn into Mogadishu as will be fearmongered about, it’s a good precedent for a lot of future victories.
Any judge that doesn’t support the constitution should be impeached and removed from office.
At this point, we are just hoping and gambling that a random Judge, will rule the correct way supporting the constitution.
Pre Bruen that was exactly the concern, now….. honestly if it goes the wrong way just appeal higher. Worst case it stalls out in circuit court in an unfriendly circuit and sets up a circuit split later on. Too many people want to risk a moonshot instead of putting in the same work to claw our rights back that the commies put in to steal them. Is it right we have to no but being lazy is how we lost our rights to begin with.
I believe the last time a judge was impeached was in the early 1800’s. I don’t think it was successful. Not to say it should not happen….
RE: “interpretative jui jitsu that would make Kafka blush.”
Interpretative jui jitsu is what sleazy Gun Control zealots do day in and day out…And as long as Gun Control is not defined by its History the tit for tat courtroom clown shows will continue.
The court clown show will continue regardless of what history you define gun control by.
That’s how our system works.
Beats paying in blood when it works, when it doesn’t we pay in blood anyway.
If paying in blood bothers you, then this game is too rich for… your blood.
As things go forward with DOGE you guys are going to start to realize why I have said for years that politics is a game “for all the marbles”.
Except this is a game where you don’t know who the players are or how many of them exist, nor how many marbles are on the field and if you lose badly enough you collapse the entire country while kicking off WWIII. Caution is advised and this ain’t for the faint of heart.
But we’re about to find out about a lot of players and a lot of very large marbles. The upshot is we can pocket them if we’re smart because this game’s for keepsies. Great risk, great reward and all that.
Not to mix metaphors too badly, especially given your other comment about 20 sided die, but alea iacta est comes to mind. IRL, it was cast about 65 years ago.
On the shorter timeline though, maybe Generational Warfare will die now that USAID isn’t funding it.
Was always ready for blood just wanted to have better options if possible. But yeah lot of commie/globalist/international banking/whatever you want to call the various groups that have been fucking with the idea of individual liberty since before the last time we had a central bank imposed on us to stealth tax us through inflation and undermining the relevance of the citizen. Covid cracked the mask DOGE is ripping it off and getting ready to spit in it’s face. I figure some version of WWE is inevitable and just hope we do not get manuvered into the same position Germany was post Weimar Republic
…. meant WW3 but WWE is kinda fitting
totally works, great mental image.
When Typos Go Right/Wild. LOL!
Wait until you see the backlash against this whole USAID thing. That org has tentacles all over the world, tentacles that have resources to strike back, and they will.
[Not tentacles in the disturbing but I’m also kinda turned on in a weird way I can’t describe and don’t much want to admit anime sort of way either.]
Expect resistance from very strange places domestically and from other countries, particularly our allies.
We seem to have found the main tumor and dealt with it but the metastasis sites will pose a problem if left to their own devices. It’s not like they’re going to have a problem raising black money to fund the operations either, we kinda handed them that capacity as part of setting them up.
They’re effectively Spectre and they should be expected to behave as such. That’s what stuff like the DSA over in Europe is about.
Oh I figure there is a lot of Europe and mideast on the gravy train that will be very pissy to lose their tribute. More comfortable worried about Africa and southeast Asia with some South/central America mixed in for nasty unexpected surprises. Throw in Canada for the wildcard for my WWE draft picks
The tentacles extend into the demtard party, their “not for profits”, unions, government school/higher “education” industry and MSM. From every fed agency. HOPEFULLY detailed forensic accounting is following the cancellation of contracts and firings. JAIL time must follow shutting them down.
You told me no one should spill blood to protect private property.
Good on that judge and Maine.
But I’m waiting for Chris Christie to get his fat ass spanked for sitting on Carole Brown’s carry permit for WEEKS after NJ law required that she be granted.
She died in a pool of her own blood in her own driveway, with her firearm “safely” in her home…where she could not use it in her own defense against her violent ex’s attack.
I know Christie is not in office right now, but gddamn it, I want him punished hard for his laziness, and I want his future political aspirations to be exactly ZERO.
And then after that, I want all carry permit requirements to be found unconstitutional.
Yeah, if I were king for a day.
I think Christie is going to spend the rest of his days as a commentator. Dems hate him because he’s a Republican. Reps hate him because he’s a RINO who sold out Trump because Trump didn’t give him a cushy cabinet position. The only thing he has left is his “moderate Republican” schtick.
A right delayed is a right denied.
shall not be infringed DUH !
There are a few firearms that I wish I’d have waited 3 days to buy.
Fuckin’ A. I quit going to gun shops for that reason.
Must haz the shiny things.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Where is a 72 hour waiting period mentioned or referenced?