Judge Lance Walker issued a federal preliminary injunction on Thursday, halting Maine’s recently established 72-hour waiting period between purchasing and receiving a firearm, proposed in the legislature following the October 2023 Lewiston shooting.

A group of firearm dealers brought a lawsuit against Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, alleging that the 72-hour waiting period violates the Constitution.

The bill was ostensibly established to give anyone purchasing a gun to commit suicide or murder a “cooling-off” period to reconsider their actions, although it would not have prevented the Lewiston shooting, since Robert Card, the shooter, owned the firearms used for the murders for over three days.

“The Defendant contends that empirical data and statistics suggest that waiting periods (colloquially coined “cooling-off periods”) reduce homicide and suicide rates (by firearm) in the states that enact them. This decision ultimately does not pass judgment on the legislative intent or the efficacy of the Act,” said Judge Walker.

Walker, the Chief U.S. District Judge for Maine and the only U.S. District Judge in Maine appointed by President Donald Trump, argued that the plaintiffs had successfully met the criteria required for the issuance of a temporary injunction while the case continues to be adjudicated.

The plaintiffs convinced Walker that their claim met the four criteria necessary for an injunction to be issued.

Plaintiffs showed that the bill violates the Second Amendment of the Constitution, that they will suffer irreparable harm if no injunction is issued, that they are favored by the “balance of equities,” meaning that the plaintiff will be harmed more by a lack of injunction than the defendant would be by the injunction, and that the injunction will serve the public interest.

Walker argued against Frey’s claims that the Second Amendment only grants a right to keep and bear arms, without granting an absolute right to purchase them.

“If a citizen cannot take possession of a firearm then his or her right to possess a
firearm or to carry it away is indeed curtailed, even if, as Frey claims, the curtailment is
modest,” said Walker.

“Because the act of acquiring a firearm, including by purchase, falls within the ambit
of what it means to keep and bear arms, it is presumptively protected by the Second
Amendment,” he continued.

He also argued that the attempts to impose a “cooling-off period” have no historical precedent and fail to align with the nation’s regulatory framework because they apply indiscriminately.

“Waiting period laws like the one contained in the Act do not employ narrow, objective, or definite standards to justify disarming individuals. This Act does not actually employ any standard at all, objective, narrow, definite or otherwise,” said Walker.

He found that the waiting period causes irreparable harm because it prevents people from immediately acquiring a firearm that may be necessary for self-defense.

Although the plaintiffs have more work to do before they can permanently overturn the waiting period law, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) celebrated the victory.

“The court basically annihilated the whole bill. If you read it, it’s one of the strongest worded rulings that I’ve seen in my time in politics,” said SAM Executive Director David Trahan during an event on Friday.

He believes that the ruling “could create a precedent for the next 100 years on whether waiting periods are constitutional,” he added.

With the new injunction, firearms dealers across the state will be able to return to giving firearms to their customers on the day of a purchase.

Read the full injunction here: