Alaska backs challenge to Maine's 72-hour gun purchase wait

Alaska joined Montana, 22 other states and the Arizona Legislature on Monday in a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to Maine's three-day waiting period for gun purchases, which the states argue violates the Second Amendment.

"The Constitution acknowledges the rights of citizens to firearms," Acting Attorney General Cori Mills said. She said states like Maine have normalized making citizens wait to exercise their constitutional rights.

The brief argues that making someone wait to take possession of a gun is a restriction on keeping arms, which the Second Amendment covers, and that Maine can't point to a historical tradition of similar laws to justify it.

Maine's law generally requires a 72-hour wait between agreeing to buy a gun and taking delivery of it, with some exceptions. It took effect Aug. 9, 2024. A federal judge blocked the law last year, but in April the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that order, finding the challengers were unlikely to win their argument that the law is unconstitutional. The law remains in effect while the case continues. Maine gun owners and gun-rights groups asked the Supreme Court in August to review the ruling, and the justices have not yet decided whether to take the case. Court materials defending the law cited research linking waiting periods to fewer gun suicides and homicides.

Alaska has no waiting period of its own. Buyers from licensed dealers generally go through a federal background check before taking a gun home. If the check is delayed, federal law generally allows the dealer to complete the sale after three business days if no denial has come back. The Alaska Constitution, which voters amended in 1994, says the individual right to keep and bear arms "shall not be denied or infringed by the State," and state law bars cities and boroughs from passing most of their own gun rules. Alaska courts have upheld some limits, including restrictions on gun possession by people with felony convictions.

Alaska isn't a party to the Maine case. States file friend-of-the-court briefs to weigh in on cases whose outcome could affect them, and a Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment would apply nationwide, setting limits on what any state, including Alaska, could require of gun buyers. The Department of Law said the attorney general joins such cases when clarifying constitutional rights can help protect Alaskans' rights. Alaska also joined a similar Montana-led brief when the case was before the 1st Circuit last year.