Federal appeals court denies Maine’s request to restore 3-day waiting period for gun purchases

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

A federal appeals court has denied Maine’s request to stay an injunction against enforcing a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases.

The three-judge panel for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston issued that denial in a two-page decision on April 10.

That allows the preliminary injunction handed down in February by U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker to stand while Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s appeal is heard in Boston.

In issuing their decision, the judges said they were unconvinced by Frey’s argument that a stay was necessary to prevent “irreparable harm,” noting his office failed to seek an expedited review.

“We are not persuaded that the Attorney General has made a ‘strong showing’ that he is likely to succeed in demonstrating that the district court abused its discretion in granting preliminary injunctive relief,” the judges wrote.

Further the judges noted that the case presents questions about an emerging area of constitutional law and a legal standard “difficult” to apply and open to “varying interpretations.”

The 72-hour waiting period law was among a slew of gun control bills passed in the Legislature in the wake of the October 2023 Lewiston mass shooting that left 18 dead and 13 wounded at a bar and bowling alley.

That law was expected to generate legal challenges, and then in November last year, 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, filed a lawsuit against Frey. They argue the waiting period violates their Second Amendment rights.

Walker, who sits on the U.S. District Court bench in Bangor, handed the law’s opponents a victory in February when he issued a preliminary injunction preventing Maine from enforcing the law.

In his 17-page opinion, Walker wrote that the law’s opponents are likely to succeed in their lawsuit and argued that the law provides no standard to “justify disarming individuals.”

Frey has argued that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution applies to guns already owned and doesn’t provide “an unfettered right … free from any regulation.”

The Maine attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.