Maine Urges Court to End Pause on 72-Hour Gun Purchase Rule

A panel of First Circuit judges on Monday questioned whether a Maine law imposing a 72-hour mandatory waiting period on gun sales implicates the Second Amendment at all, as a group of Maine residents and small businesses attempt to invalidate the regulation.

Judge Seth R. Aframe, comparing Maine’s law to waiting periods associated with passing background checks and mandatory firearm safety courses, questioned the state: “What is the right we’re talking about?”

Christopher Taub, of Maine’s Attorney General’s Office, said the law regulates the “immediate acquisition of a firearm,” just like background checks and other prerequisites to possessing a gun, ...