PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A coalition of gun groups has filed a lawsuit claiming that Maine's new 72-hour waiting period for firearms purchases is unconstitutional and seeking an injunction stopping its enforcement pending the outcome of the case.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of five individuals contends that it’s illegal to require someone who passed a background check to wait three days before completing a gun purchase, and that this argument is bolstered by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that changed the standard for gun restrictions.
“Nothing in our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation supports that kind of ‘cooling-off period’ measure, which is a 20th century regulatory innovation that is flatly inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s original meaning,” the plaintiffs' attorneys wrote in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Supporters of the law said they’re confident it will survive the legal challenge.
Maine is one of a dozen states that have a waiting periods for gun purchases, which proponents think might keep some people from rashly buying guns to harm others or themselves. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills allowed Maine's restriction to become law without her signature. It took effect in August.
Attorney General Aaron Frey said he looks forward to defending the law. “Waiting periods have been upheld across the country as a reasonable, limited regulation that does not infringe on Second Amendment rights,” he said.
Maine's waiting period law was one of several gun control measures the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed after an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in the state’s deadliest shooting in October 2023.
Laura Whitcomb, president of Gun Owners of Maine, said Wednesday that the lawsuit is being led by coalition of her group and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, with assistance from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
She and other critics of the waiting period law have pointed out that there are certain situations where a gun purchase shouldn’t be delayed, such as when a domestic violence victim wants to buy one. Maine hunting guides have also pointed out that someone who’s in the state for a short period for legal hunting may no longer be able to buy a gun for the outing.
The plaintiffs include gun sellers and gunsmiths who claim their businesses are being harmed, along with a domestic abuse victim who armed herself because she didn’t think a court order would protect her. The woman said she slept with a gun by her side while her abuser or his friends pelted her camper with rocks. Another plaintiff, a firearms dealer, was forced to delay a sale to a woman who was being stalked, according to the suit.
“This law is nothing more than an attempt to deny law-abiding Mainers their constitutional rights while doing nothing to stop criminals who ignore these ineffective laws," said Lawrence G. Kean, of the National Sports Foundation.
Nacole Palmer, who heads the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, said she’s confident that the waiting period law will withstand the legal challenge.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said half of Maine’s 277 suicides involved a gun in the latest data from 2021 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and that she believes the waiting period law will reduce the number of suicides by firearm.
“I am confident that the 72-hour waiting period will save lives and save many families the heartbreak of losing a loved one to suicide by firearm,” she said.
FILE - A selection of Sig Sauer pistols are displayed at the Kittery Trading Post, Aug. 9, 2024, in Kittery, Maine. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Asian markets rose on Friday after U.S. stock indexes slipped as Wall Street’s weak end to last year carried into 2025.
U.S. futures and oil prices rose.
Japan's market is closed for the New Year holiday. The dollar remained steady on Friday, trading at 157.26 Japanese yen, down from 157.51 yen. In early December, it had been hovering around 150 yen.
Hong Kong stocks rallied from Thursday's slump amid worries that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump might raise tariffs from China and other Asian countries once he takes office this month. The Hang Seng added 0.4% to 19,692.80, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped 1.6% to 3,211.43.
China has placed 28 U.S. entities, including General Dynamics, on its export control list to “safeguard national security and interests,” according to a statement from the Commerce Ministry on Thursday.
The ministry also announced it was adding export restrictions on specific technologies used in manufacturing battery components and processing critical minerals such as lithium and gallium.
The Kospi jumped 1.8% to 2,441.92, with the giant SK Hynix Inc. up 6.4% and Samsung Electronics Co. gaining 1.7%. As the political crisis in South Korea entered a new phase, investigators arrived at the presidential residence with a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,250.50.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,868.55, extending the four-day losing streak that dimmed the close of its stellar 2024. The index pinballed through the day between an early gain of 0.9% and a later loss of 0.9% before locking in its longest losing streak since April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 43,392.27, after an early gain of 360 points disappeared, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.2% to 19,280.79.
Tesla helped drag the market lower after disclosing it delivered fewer vehicles in the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected. The electric-vehicle company’s stock slumped 6.1%.
Tesla was one of the big winners of 2024, particularly after Donald Trump’s Election Day victory raised speculation that Elon Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect could help the company. But critics have been warning that prices all across the stock market have run too high, too quickly and are at risk of a pullback.
Constellation Energy jumped 8.4% for the one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after announcing it won more than $1 billion in combined contracts with the U.S. General Services Administration to supply power and perform energy savings and conservation measures.
Some Big Tech stocks also helped limit the market’s losses. Nvidia, whose chips are powering the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology, rose 3% after following up its nearly 240% surge in 2023 with a better than 170% jump last year.
Some investors and analysts are counting on the AI rush to continue, even though critics say it’s made stock prices too expensive. As the calendar flips to a new year, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says it’s the ”same tech playbook in year 3 of this tech AI driven bull market,” for example.
Some pages of the playbook do seem to be changing. Investors have ratcheted back expectations for how many cuts to interest rates the Federal Reserve may deliver in 2025, for example.
Inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target, and Trump’s pushing for tariffs and other policies has raised worries about potentially more upward pressure on prices that U.S. consumers have to pay. That drove the Fed to say recently it will likely deliver fewer of the economy-juicing cuts to interest rates in 2025 than it had earlier thought.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 2 cents to $73.15 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1 cent to $75.94 a barrel.
In currency trading, the euro cost $1.0279, up from $1.0268.
A trader works amid Christmas decorations on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown in New York's Financial District on Dec. 31, 2024. American flags flew at half-staff there following the death of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FILE - Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
FILE - A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Dec. 27, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
