February 13, 2025

Court Blocks Maine’s 72-Hour Waiting Period Law in NSSF Supported Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF^®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, lauds the decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine to grant a preliminary injunction of the state’s 72-hour waiting period law handed down today. The law, passed in 2024, required firearm retailers to delay delivery to a law-abiding citizen of lawfully-sold firearms for three days after an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification allows a transaction to proceed. The challenge to the law is supported by NSSF.

“This decision by the court is 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,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Rights delayed are rights denied. 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.”

The court rejected Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s argument that the Second Amendment does not protect the right to acquire a firearm as “interpretative jui jitsu that would make Kafka blush,” and which the “Supreme Court would view with great skepticism.”

The lawsuit against Maine’s Attorney General Frey was filed by several individuals, federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) and an organization that provides firearm training. One of the plaintiffs is a domestic-abuse survivor and certified firearm instructor who offers self-defense classes to victims and survivors. Maine’s 72-hour waiting period law prevents the women she assists from adequately defending themselves against abusive partners who pose a credible and imminent threat to their physical safety, as it forces them to wait three days to secure a firearm even when they have passed the NICS background check. Likewise, another plaintiff—a federally licensed firearm dealer—has been forced to delay sales to qualified individuals with time-sensitive needs, including a single woman who was being stalked and a married couple whose home was burglarized. These stories are emblematic of the countless number of individuals whose rights have been denied and whose safety has been put in jeopardy due to Maine’s 72-hour waiting period.

NSSF supported the plaintiffs who brought the challenge to the law that passed in the wake of the tragic and senseless murders in Lewiston, Maine. State lawmakers, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, passed and enacted the law under pressure by gun control groups to “do something.” The law they crafted does little to improve public safety and only denies the Constitutional rights of those who obey the law. A commission studied the tragic murders and concluded that multi-agency failures, including by the U.S. Army Reserve and local law enforcement, were to blame for the threat posed by the murderer.

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About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.

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Media contact:
Mark Oliva
202-220-1340

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