1st Circuit Appeals Court Pauses Maine’s 72-Hour Waiting Period on Firearms

On April 10, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Maine may not enforce its law mandating a 72-hour waiting period for firearms sales, noting that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their Second Amendment challenge to the statute.

In the case of Beckwith v. Frey, before Circuit Court Judges Montecalvo, Rikelman, and Aframe, the court denied the state’s request for a stay pending appeal on the preliminary injunction. This simply means that the state cannot enforce the law while the case proceeds.

According to the order, the state is arguing that there may be loss of life if they cannot infringe upon people’s Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms, which assumes being able to purchase them when individuals desire to do so.

Amusingly, the order also notes that this is unlikely such a dire situation because the Attorney General failed to seek an expedited review of the stay motion.

One disconcerting element of the court’s order is the notion that anti-gun laws are somehow new and difficult to interpret:

Because the case presents questions of first impression in an emerging area of Constitutional law involving a legal standard that is difficult to apply and subject to varying interpretations…

We will continue to watch and report on this case.