Why It Matters: Introduced on March 25, 2025, Maine Legislative Docket 1230 (LD 1230), a bill that seeks to repeal the 72-hour waiting period on firearms transfers, currently sits in the Joint Committee on Judiciary where it awaits action. In 2024, LD 2238 was hurriedly passed in an attempt to” do something” after the tragic, criminal shooting that resulted in the murder of 18 people in Lewiston, ME late in 2023. There has been no evidence illustrating that waiting periods curb gun violence, crime, or suicide. Criminals, by the very definition, will not be the citizens in polite society to follow laws (arbitrary as some may be) like a waiting period. The only citizens directly affected are those who should not be subjected to such law, as such, it is imperative to fully repeal Maine’s 72-hour waiting period as outlined in LD 1230 and remove the biased hurdle levied against Maine’s sporting community.
Highlights
- In February 2025, a federal judge put a hold on the 72-hour wait period that was a result of LD 2238 passing the Maine legislature and having been signed into law in 2024.
- On March 25, 2025, Maine LD 1230, a bill that seeks to repeal the wait period on firearms transfers, was introduced.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) submitted testimony in favor of LD 1230. CSF also submitted testimony in 2024 opposing the original bill that established the 72-hour waiting period.
After the passage of LD 2238 in 2024, a 72-hour wait period on firearms purchases immediately went into effect in Maine. In February 2025, a federal judge put a hold on the measure while challenges to the law are being litigated. On March 25, 2025, LD 1230 was introduced to fully repeal the law.
While most legislation tends to be introduced at the beginning of the legislative session, the legislative process in Augusta has been particularly messy out of the gate with partisanship getting in the way of Maine’s budget reconciliation and further exacerbated by local and federal officials locking horns over Title IX issues in the Pine Tree State. With the extreme political environment in Augusta and the legislature adjourning sine die on March 21, 2025, the legislative process has been complicated, disrupting the introduction of bills like LD 1230. Maine now finds itself in a special session of the legislature, still mired in toxic partisanship to the detriment of Maine’s sportsmen and women.
The possession of firearms is not only protected under the Second Amendment, but it is also engrained in our nation’s cultural fabric. Sportsmen and women in Maine have been at the forefront with offering improvements towards determining one’s eligibility in purchasing a firearm, yet the 72-hour waiting period implemented last year was not a constructive route to take. Through implementing a delay in the transfer of a firearm, LD 2238 created a uniquely biased hurdle on the hunting and sport shooting communities – a barrier levied on no other outdoor user experience.
Maine’s sportsmen and women are the backbone of the funding structure for conservation efforts that benefit fish, wildlife, and their habitat throughout the state, as well as the citizenry at large. The 72-hour minimum waiting period on the transferring of a firearm is a slight to the many benefits provided by the sporting industry to include recreational access to public and private lands, shooting ranges and boat access facilities, wetlands protection and its associated water filtration and flood retention functions, and improved soil and water conservation – all of which benefit the public at large, not just sportsmen and women.
Despite the challenges within the legislature this session, CSF looks forward to working with our partners in the Maine Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus to support LD 1230 and highlight the repercussions of the current law as we work to repeal it.
