The Office of the Maine Attorney General has filed a motion requesting that a federal judge deny a gun rights advocacy group’s attempt to block the state’s implementation of a 72-hour waiting period on gun sales.
A group of firearms advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the three-day waiting period in November, arguing that the new law violates the U.S. Constitution. The suit has been backed by firearms groups Gun Owners of Maine and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.
As part of their lawsuit, the group motioned to have the law’s implementation put on pause until the suit is settled. But in a filing on Friday, the state argues that the lawsuit is unlikely to win on its merits, and the injunction should be denied.
The state argued in its motion that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep arms but “does not apply to a law regulating the acquisition of arms unless the law is so burdensome that it effectively prohibits keeping and bearing arms.”
The plaintiffs are Republican Rep. James White and his business, J. White Gunsmithing; as well as Andrea Beckworth, East Coast School of Safety; Adam Hendsbee, A&G Shooting; and Thomas Cole and his business, TLC Gunsmithing and Armory.
They are represented locally by attorney Josh Tardy, of Bangor, with help from Clement & Murphy, a national firm that has experience arguing cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, including the New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which has made it more difficult to enact gun safety legislation.
Lawyers for the firearms advocates have until Jan. 17 to file their response.
“Until that time we have been advised to not comment publicly as the legal challenge is ongoing,” the group’s board of directors wrote in a statement on its website. “While we have no comment on the proceedings, we did want to make the filings available as it is a matter of public record.”
The law was one of several passed to strengthen gun control measures statewide following the October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston in which 18 people were killed and 13 more shot and injured.
The constitutionality of the law has been debated since the bill first arose. It passed the state House of Representatives with a three-vote margin and the Senate by just one vote. Gov. Janet Mills allowed the bill to take effect without her signature, saying she was “deeply conflicted” about the rule.
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