A 72-hour Waiting Period for Gun Sales Goes Into Effect in Maine

Maine requires a 72-hour waiting period for all gun sales starting on Aug. 9. The new requirement was among a set of gun safety laws put before Gov. Janet Mills last April.

Mills took no action on bill LD 2224, allowing it to become law without her signature.

Exceptions to the law include sales involving law enforcement, contract security officers, family members, and collectors buying or selling antique firearms or those classified as curios or relics.

A first violation of the law can result in a fine of up to $500, and subsequent violations could result in fines of $1,000.

Proponents say it will reduce suicides by providing a “cooling off” period. Opponents call it an arbitrary measure that could endanger those seeking a gun for self-protection.

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In an online statement, Mills wrote that both sides made valid points.

“I have decided to allow this bill to become law … with some caveats and concerns and with the hope that it can be implemented to accomplish its intended goal of preventing suicide by firearm without overburdening our outdoor sports economy and the rights of responsible gun owners and dealers,” her statement reads.

Gun safety advocates welcomed the new law saying it will save lives.

“In a state where 90 percent of gun deaths are suicides and domestic violence continues to take too many lives of women and children, measures like the 72-hour waiting period will have a real impact in preventing tragedies that leave families mourning the preventable losses of their loved ones,” Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

Mills wrote that she will monitor ongoing legal challenges to waiting periods in other states, such as Vermont to determine their possible effect on Maine’s law.

The group stated on its website that it was weighing whether to pursue the matter further.

Mills stated she would also monitor the law’s impact on businesses in Maine that lend or rent firearms, such as hunting guides, and study whether the law endangers those buying a gun for protection.

The gun rights group Gun Owners of Maine vowed to fight the law, which they say was previously rejected by the legislature.

“This bill was defeated in 2023 and was brought back to life unethically during the emergency session by altering a few words, was passed using questionable vote-pairing in the Senate,” the group wrote on its website.

Last April, Mills signed a set of gun bills in response to the Oct. 25, 2023, mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, in which an Army veteran with documented mental health issues killed 18 people and wounded 13.

In addition to a waiting period, the laws require private sales that result from advertisements—whether online, in print, including ads for gun shows—to include a background check by a Federal Firearms License holder through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Transfers between relatives or collectors transferring antique or “curio” firearms are exempt.

The law allows police to take someone into protective custody if a judge deems the person mentally ill based on an affidavit from the officer. Police could seize any “dangerous weapons” the person has.

According to the report, the U.S. Army, mental health professionals in New York State, and the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office would likely have prevented the crime if they had followed existing law at the time.