(The Center Square) — A federal judge has blocked a Maine law requiring a three-day waiting period to buy a firearm in response to a legal challenge filed by gun dealers who argue the restrictions are unconstitutional.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker, issued Thursday, sided with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, Gun Owners of Maine and several gun sellers who filed a lawsuit last year alleging the law requiring people to wait 72 hours to acquire a firearm — even if they pass a required criminal background check.
Walker’s ruling temporarily blocks the law while he considers the legal challenge.
“Citizens wishing to purchase a firearm are dispossessed of one for 72 hours exclusively by operation of the act’s requirement that everyone be subjected to a ‘cooling off’ period, even those who have passed an instant background check at the FD’s (firearms dealer’s) counter,” Walker wrote in the 17-page ruling. “That is indiscriminate dispossession, plain and simple.”
Walker called the waiting period “indiscriminate” because it applies to all firearm purchasers, regardless of whether they pose a threat, and that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed” on the merits of their case.
The 72-hour “cooling off” period was a provision of a broader gun-control bill Democratic lawmakers passed through the House and Senate in response to the Oct. 25, 2023, Lewiston massacre, when an Army reservist opened fire in a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, killing 13 people and injuring 18 others. The mass shooting sparked a fierce debate over gun control in Maine, a blue state with the nation’s lowest crime rate and a record of resisting firearm restrictions.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, allowed the 72-hour waiting period to become law without her signature, saying she was “conflicted” over the measure after considering both sides of the gun control debate.
Republicans argued the rules would do little to prevent gun violence and have accused Democrats of using the Lewiston shooting for political gain.
Gun control advocates celebrated the restrictions but drew the attention of national Second Amendment groups, who argued that the waiting period was unnecessary and violated gun buyers’ constitutional rights.
Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, praised the judge’s ruling as “an affirmation that unconstitutional delays on the free exercise of rights are not in compliance with Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”
“Rights delayed are rights denied,” Keane said in a statement. “The decision to enjoin this law while it is challenged in court ensures that law-abiding Mainers are not encumbered and deprived of their rights to keep and bear arms after they have proven they are not prohibited from legally possessing a firearm.”
Attorney General Aaron Frey, whose office defended the law in court, said his lawyers presented “undisputed evidence that by deterring impulsive purchases, firearm waiting periods save lives” and pledged to continue fighting the lawsuit.
“Given the obvious public safety benefits, we intend to continue defending this common sense law and will be considering next steps in the days to come,” Frey said in a statement.