Challenge to gun sales waiting period tests lawmakers’ seriousness

November 17 – One of the few measures passed by the Maine Legislature last year to approximate “gun control” is at risk of being undone by a legal challenge from gun rights advocates – and that, to be clear, is to say, a shame.

The law in question, which requires people who purchase guns to wait 72 hours before receiving the weapon, is intended to prevent suicide by firearm and other impulsively committed gun violence. Maine, along with Washington DC, became the tenth state to enact such a law. Colorado, Florida and Illinois are in this group. Three other states (Minnesota, Maryland and New Jersey) have waiting periods for certain weapons.

While the American public is largely aware of and afraid of the utter tragedy of the mass shooting, the vast majority of gun deaths here in Maine are suicides – in 2022, 87% of deaths were, amounting to 156 fatalities , mainly men and women. guys. Nationally, we are doing very poorly: According to a 2022 report, an average of 59% of gun deaths in the US in 2020 were suicides, compared to 86% in Maine.

The waiting period has been labeled by opponents as fundamentally unconstitutional and criticized as an arbitrary standard. In Maine, as elsewhere, the statute will have been drafted safely with the expectation that it would face legal challenges. Sooner or later we’ll find out if it’s made airtight enough to survive.

“This is an emotional issue for many, and there are compelling arguments for and against,” Gov. Janet Mills said in an April statement explaining she would allow the bill to pass without her signature. “This is not an easy issue.”

This was a prudent and generous attitude by the governor. It’s not an easy issue, no — but it was reductive to suggest that the “emotional” weight of gun violence in Maine, driven by suicide, could be as compelling as the need to avoid state gun shows, just to name a few. to give example. the introduction of some friction.

The supposed “quagmire” that the 72-hour pause creates for sellers and buyers and the apparent unbearable nature of an “administrative burden” suggests that those opposing the law have no appreciation for its purpose, its potential value for public safety. Arguments against such a modest effort to make Maine’s relationship with firearms safer are self-serving. In a cooler view, they put trade above caring for others.

A month before the devastation of the Lewiston shooting last October, this editorial wrote the following: “Put the ‘unfair burden’ of laughably dry, mundane measures like waiting periods for purchases on the shoulders of those law-abiding gun owners. Even if you think they are merely symbolic, make these safeguards a reasonable condition for gun ownership, a right that has caused America such staggering losses and bloodshed.

Our position stands.

Copy the story link