An effort by the Maine attorney general to persuade a federal judge to reinstate Maine’s controversial three-day waiting period for firearm purchases while awaiting consideration by a federal appeals court has failed.
Last month, a federal judge in Portland granted a request from gun rights groups to temporarily pause the three-day waiting period on gun purchases, stating that the plaintiffs made a compelling argument that the law is unconstitutional.
“Given that Plaintiffs have established a likelihood of success and the existence of irreparable injury, I find that the balance of equities favors them as well,” Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker wrote in the ruling. “Similarly, although members of the public undoubtedly feel that they have a genuine interest in laws curtailing the right to keep and bear arms, their interest is not exclusive and not one that can win out in terms of an interest-balancing exercise by a court that is sworn to uphold the Constitution.”
Judge Walker’s ruling also stated that “acquiring a firearm is a necessary step in the exercise of keeping and bearing arms.”
Disappointed by the ruling, the attorney general quickly appealed the decision to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston and then petitioned the original court to temporarily restore the law until the 1st Circuit could hear the case. Once again, the state faced disappointment as Judge Walker ruled again that he believed the plaintiffs’ rights under the Second Amendment would be irreparably harmed if the 1st Circuit decided to overturn the law.
“If the Act is unconstitutional—which it likely is—it will curtail the exercise of rights preserved under the Second Amendment … on a regular, steady, and ongoing daily basis (measured by nearly every firearm sale in Maine during the pendency of this litigation),” Walker wrote in the latest ruling.
Citing the 2022 Bruen ruling, Judge Walker noted that “the alleged lifesaving benefits of a three-day waiting period may have been relevant to the merits of a constitutional challenge … but that has not been the law of the land for nearly three years.”
“This is an unsubtle point that nevertheless appears lost in the shuffle, apparently to persuade me of the wisdom of the law to compensate for its potential constitutional shortcomings,” the judge added.
Naturally, proponents of the measure, like most gun control advocates, were quick to cry “politics” whenever they didn’t get their way. Following the February ruling, Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, blamed the loss on the fact that Judge Walker was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term.
“We’re deeply troubled by the decision of a Trump-appointed judge to roll back Maine’s gun safety laws,” Palmer said in a written statement. “That the gun lobby sued to roll back a commonsense law that doesn’t prevent anyone’s right to buy guns but does help prevent suicide is unsurprising. That a judge granted them this political victory at the cost of Mainers is surprising.”
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