Gun groups sue to overturn Maine's new 3-day waiting period to buy firearms

PORTLAND, Maine — Gun rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit claiming that Maine's new 72-hour waiting period for firearms purchases is unconstitutional and seeking an injunction stopping its enforcement pending the outcome of the case.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of five individuals contends that it’s illegal to require someone who passed a background check to wait three days before completing a gun purchase, and that this argument is bolstered by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that changed the standard for gun restrictions.

“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 federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Supporters of the law said they’re confident it will survive the legal challenge.

Maine is one of a dozen states that have a waiting periods for gun purchases, which proponents think might keep some people from rashly buying guns to harm others or themselves. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills allowed Maine's restriction to become law without her signature. It took effect in August.

Attorney General Aaron Frey said he looks forward to defending the law. “Waiting periods have been upheld across the country as a reasonable, limited regulation that does not infringe on Second Amendment rights,” he said.

Maine's waiting period law was one of several gun control measures the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed after an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in the state’s deadliest shooting in October 2023.

Laura Whitcomb, president of Gun Owners of Maine, said Wednesday that the lawsuit is being led by her group and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, with assistance from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

She and other critics of the waiting period law have pointed out that there are certain situations where a gun purchase shouldn’t be delayed, such as when a domestic violence victim wants to buy one. Maine hunting guides have also pointed out that someone who’s in the state for a short period for legal hunting may no longer be able to buy a gun for the outing.

The plaintiffs include gun sellers and gunsmiths who claim their businesses are being harmed, along with a domestic abuse victim who armed herself because she didn’t think a court order would protect her. The woman said she slept with a gun by her side while her abuser or his friends pelted her camper with rocks. Another plaintiff, a firearms dealer, was forced to delay a sale to a woman who was being stalked, according to the suit.

“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 Shooting Sports Foundation.

Nacole Palmer, who heads the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, said the lawsuit came as no surprise but it is nonetheless “disappointing that the gun lobby is moving forward with challenging a law that will save Mainers’ lives and is supported by a wealth of evidence.”

“We know 72-hour waiting periods are effective at reducing gun deaths, both suicides and homicides, in the states where they have been passed. In Maine, a state where suicide is the leading cause of firearm death, especially for men, this law will save lives and save families from losing a loved one in crisis," she wrote in a statement.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said half of Maine’s 277 suicides in 2021 involved a gun and she believes the waiting period will reduce the number of suicides by firearm.