Plaintiff Claims 72-Hour Waiting Period Prevents Acquisition of Firearms to Defend Against Imminent Threats

On November 12, 2024, a lawsuit was filed challenging the 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases which Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed into law in August.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are “Andrea Beckwith, East Coast School of Safety, Nancy Coshow, James White, J White Gunsmithing, Adam Hendsbee, A&G Shooting, Thomas Cole, and TLC Gunsmithing and Armory.”

Plaintiffs explain that the waiting period “forces law-abiding citizens to wait 72 hours to acquire a firearm even if they pass the requisite background check in a matter of minutes, which most people do.”

They note that the waiting period was adopted under the guise of creating a “cooling-off period,” in which someone seeking gun for ill purposes would have time to change their mind. The plaintiffs then set the law up to be scrutinized in light of Bruen (2022), claiming that such a “‘cooling-off period’ measure has no historical pedigree whatsoever.”

Also from the lawsuit:

Plaintiff Andrea Beckwith is a domestic-abuse survivor who has dedicated her life to helping other women who are trying to escape and recover from abusive situations. She offers self-defense classes to victims and survivors of domestic violence and other tragic experiences all throughout Maine. A certified firearms instructor, Beckwith used to be able to help women promptly secure a firearm to defend themselves after providing them with the training needed to safely operate and store it, giving victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse a critical measure of security in a most perilous time. Now, however, she must send them home unarmed for three days—three days in which their abusers will now know that they cannot legally secure the means to defend themselves.

The National Sports Shooting Foundation’s general counsel Lawrence Keane commented on the 72-hour waiting period, saying, “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. Rights delayed are rights denied and this law, signed by Governor Janet Mills, is exemplary of the efforts by gun control advocates who only wish to put in place roadblocks for law-abiding citizens who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.