WASHINGTON, D.C. – NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, celebrated the announcement that a lawsuit has been filed against Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey, seeking declarative and injunctive relief from state authorities enforcing Public Law 2023, Chapter 678, Maine’s new 72-hour waiting period law that denies law-abiding Mainers the ability to take possession of a newly-purchased firearm after they pass an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification.
The Plaintiffs have moved for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the law while the challenge is ongoing.
The 72-hour waiting period law was included in a larger gun control package that was enacted by Gov. Janet Mills in August. Several plaintiffs are challenging Maine’s 72-hour delay period by demonstrating that it violates their Second Amendment rights and are asking the court to strike down the law as unconstitutional.
The lawsuit against Attorney General Aaron 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. The law now 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 clear 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 burgled. 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.
“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,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s Senior Vice President & General Counsel. “Waiting period laws such as Maine’s have no historical pedigree whatsoever and would have been incomprehensible to the Founding Fathers. Over the past four years, millions of law-abiding Americans felt the need to purchase a firearm due to concerns about their safety and they should not be denied the ability to do so because of an arbitrary time requirement, when their life could be in danger.”
NSSF supports this effort to vindicate the Second Amendment rights of Mainers and is monitoring the lawsuit.
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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, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.
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