The National Rifle Association is teaming up with the Mountain State Legal Fund to challenge a New Mexico law that puts a seven-day waiting period on firearms purchases.
On Wednesday, the NRA announced on its website, “New Mexico’s ‘Unlawful Sale of a Firearm Before Required Waiting Period Ends Act’ requires the purchaser of a firearm to wait seven calendar days before taking possession of the firearm — even if the purchaser immediately passes a background check. While it provides an exception for concealed carry permit holders, it provides no exception for urgent circumstances, such as when an individual has received an imminent threat of bodily harm.”
The law in question — which also went into effect Wednesday — was signed by Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in March.
Fox News reported that upon signing the bill, Grisham declared its intent in saying, “We are losing far too many lives when guns get into the wrong hands and violent criminals are allowed to recommit again and again. This legislation addresses both.”
Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said regarding the law, “The State of New Mexico’s waiting period law is a clear violation of its citizens’ Second Amendment rights – needlessly delaying their ability to acquire a firearm for self-defense or sporting purposes. With this legal challenge, NRA is committed to seeing that this unconstitutional law be wiped from the state statutes.”
The lawsuit, filed in the District Court of New Mexico, challenges the law on Second and 14th Amendment grounds.
A copy of the filing can be found here.
The plaintiffs hope New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, decided by the Supreme Court in 2022, will help their case.
That case established a standard of the government needing to show a “historical tradition of firearm regulation” to support the law in question.
Are firearm purchase waiting periods unconstitutional?
The law is just the latest development in blue states’ war on the Second Amendment.
Waiting periods do not help buyers who might be in danger and decide to purchase a firearm.
Mike McCoy, director of the Center to Keep and Bear Arms at MSLF mentioned domestic violence victims. “Forcing domestic violence victims in need of a firearm to protect themselves to wait seven days to acquire one is wrong,” he told Fox News Digital. “Let’s hope their abusers ‘wait a week’ too, before they attack again.”
New Mexico is an extremely bad place to find yourself unarmed and a potential victim.
According to Forbes, New Mexico is the most dangerous state in the country, with a violent crime rate of 7.80 per 1,000 residents.
Looking at the numbers, is the “Land of Enchantment” really the place you want to find yourself waiting to buy a firearm?
Criminals do not wait to harm you, nor do they wait to find weapons to do so. Waiting periods only hurt law-abiding citizens.
While the law has just taken effect, hopefully this lawsuit will stop it in its tracks before things can get even worse for New Mexico.
