• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Digital News Updates
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business

Montana Attorney General Knudsen Leads 28-State Coalition Against Maine Gun Law

June 6, 2025

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is spearheading a 28-state coalition backing a legal challenge to Maine’s newly enacted 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases, calling the law an unconstitutional infringement on Second Amendment rights.

In an amicus brief filed in Beckwith v. Frey, the coalition urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold a lower court’s decision that blocked Maine’s waiting-period law, which took effect in 2024. The district court concluded that the law likely violated the Second Amendment because it lacked a historical precedent from the Founding or Reconstruction eras—criteria set by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision.

“Maine failed to carry its burden to show that its waiting-period law is ‘part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms,’” Knudsen wrote in the brief. He argued that the law imposes a flat delay on all firearm purchasers regardless of whether they pose any risk, making it inconsistent with historical firearms regulations like licensing or intoxication laws that included individualized standards.

The coalition’s brief contends that the right to acquire firearms is protected by the Second Amendment and that Maine’s law cannot be justified under Bruen, which requires that modern gun regulations be supported by historical analogues.

Maine officials have defended the law as a necessary response to modern challenges, such as the impulsive use of firearms in suicides and homicides. They argue that a waiting period can serve as a critical buffer to prevent tragic outcomes in moments of crisis. However, Knudsen and the other attorneys general countered that human impulsivity is not a new societal concern, and Maine failed to show that any similar laws existed at the time of the nation’s founding.

“Maine’s historical evidence—licensing and intoxication laws—is not ‘relevantly similar’ to its waiting-period law,” the brief asserts, noting that those older laws offered conditions to avoid restrictions, whereas Maine’s mandate applies universally.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the Arizona Legislature joined the brief led by Knudsen.

The case is now before the First Circuit, which will determine whether Maine’s law can stand under the constitutional framework established by Bruen.

By: DNU staff

Filed Under: Featured, Home Featured, News

Related Articles:

  • Americans in All 50 States to Receive Tax Cut Under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Analysis Finds
  • Federal Judge Blocks Use of Washington Medicaid Data for Immigration Enforcement
  • Lee Enterprises to Pay $9.5 Million in Privacy Case, Faces New Employee Class-Action Lawsuits
  • Montana AG Leads 22-State Coalition Asking Supreme Court to Hear Parental Rights Case
  • Gianforte’s 56 County Tour Highlights Rural Investments, Jobs, and Public Safety
  • Governor Little Signs Executive Order to Streamline State Government

Primary Sidebar

Digital News Updates Logo

Recent News Posts

  • Montana Commerce Department Launches New Loan Program for Rural Businesses
  • Montana DEQ Seeks Public Comment on Draft Coal Mine Bonding Guidance
  • New business-focused hospitality degree to help Montana tourism industry
  • CNBC Ranks North Dakota Most Business-Friendly State for Fourth Straight Year

Recent Politics Posts

  • Montana Delegation Urges President Trump to Impose Tariffs on Russian Palladium
  • Montana AG Leads 22-State Coalition Asking Supreme Court to Hear Parental Rights Case
  • Governor Little Signs Executive Order to Streamline State Government
  • Montana GOP Executive Director Tyler Newcombe Steps Down; Party Names New Communications Director

Recent Business Posts

  • Montana Commerce Department Launches New Loan Program for Rural Businesses
  • CNBC Ranks North Dakota Most Business-Friendly State for Fourth Straight Year
  • Bozeman-Based Texbase Launches Advisory Board,
  • Black Hills Corp. and NorthWestern Energy Announce All-Stock Merger

Copyright © 2025 Digital News Updates, All Rights Reserved.