Federal judge pauses Maine’s 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases
By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff
A federal judge on Feb. 13 paused a Maine law requiring a 72-hour waiting period to buy a gun.
Judge Lance Walker granted a preliminary injunction to pause the law that took effect in early August and says gun dealers must wait 72 hours after making an “agreement” with a customer to turn the firearm over to them.
Five Mainers challenged the law, filing a lawsuit against Attorney General Aaron Frey alleging it violates the Second Amendment. Maine’s waiting period is not consistent with how the United States has historically regulated guns, which means it violates the Second Amendment, the lawsuit said.
The law did not provide a standard to “justify disarming individuals,” and the Mainers who sued are likely to succeed in the ongoing lawsuit related to the Second Amendment, Walker said in his 17-page opinion.
Frey argued the Second Amendment applies to guns a person already owns and does not grant “an unfettered right to immediately acquire them free of any regulation.” That argument is not supported by the U.S. Constitution, Walker said.
Acquiring a firearm is a necessary step in keeping and bearing arms, and any other interpretation requires “interpretative jui jitsu,” Walker said.
The 72-hour waiting period passed after the mass shooting in Lewiston, in which 18 people were killed and 13 more were injured. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who previously opposed sweeping gun-control measures, let the waiting period bill become law in April without her signature.
The ruling is very disappointing, Frey said. There is undisputed evidence that the 72-hour waiting period saves lives, he said.
The law would have prevented 12 suicides in year, according to estimates, Frey said.
“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,” he said.
Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, and supporters said the waiting period law will help reduce suicides in Maine, where 156 of 179 firearm deaths in 2022 were suicides. Studies have found waiting periods of between two and seven days can lower risks of suicide and domestic violence shootings, while little empirical evidence exists to support a claim they delay victims in getting self-protection.
“We’re deeply troubled by the decision of a Trump-appointed judge to roll back Maine’s gun safety laws,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director for the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.
“Three-day waiting period laws provide a brief cooling off period so someone in crisis who may be buying a gun to take their own life has time to reconsider and get help,” Palmer added. “These laws have been upheld as constitutional in countless other states where they exist, some up to 10 days.”
The lawsuit was filed in November against Frey by five Mainers: Andrea Beckwith, owner of East Coast School of Safety; Rep. Jim White, R-Guilford, who owns J White Gunsmithing; Adam Hendsbee, owner of A&G Shooting; Thomas Cole, owner of TLC Gunsmithing; and Nancy Coshow of Bridgton, who had to wait to buy a gun.
The people most harmed by the waiting period are those who are likely buying a gun for “self-defense in case of confrontation,” as described by Beckwith, one of the people who filed the lawsuit, Walker said.
Beckworth is a firearms instructor and teaches non-lethal self-defense. Her clients are typically women experiencing domestic violence, and Beckworth would show them a variety of handguns so the women could choose what works best to protect themselves, the lawsuit said.
Once the woman passed a background check, she would buy the gun she needed to keep herself, and sometimes her children, safe. However, the waiting period now means they cannot immediately have a gun to protect themselves, according to the lawsuit.