• 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:

  • Sheehy’s Bipartisan Wildfire Bill Heads to President Trump’s Desk
  • Poll: College not preparing students for workforce, managers avoid hiring them
  • Stock Market Rides Wave of Tech Gains and Trade Hopes Amid Weekly Swings
  • Knudsen Praises SCOTUS Unanimous Ruling for U.S. Gun Manufacturers
  • Law enforcement agencies in 40 states are partnering with ICE 287(g) program
  • Sheehy Fulfills Campaign Promise With Blind Trust

Primary Sidebar

Digital News Updates Logo

Recent News Posts

  • Zinke Nominates 15 Western Montana Projects for Federal Funding Totaling $64.6 Million
  • Wyoming DEQ Releases 2024 State of the Environment Report
  • Brown Announces New Executive Leadership Appointments in Auditor’s Office
  • Commerce Awards $23.7 Million in Coal Endowment Grants to 39 Communities

Recent Politics Posts

  • Little Appoints Brendon Taylor as District Judge for Idaho Seventh Judicial District
  • Daines, Zinke Lead Bipartisan Effort to Combat Drug Trafficking in Tribal Communities
  • Sheehy’s Bipartisan Wildfire Bill Heads to President Trump’s Desk
  • Knudsen Praises SCOTUS Unanimous Ruling for U.S. Gun Manufacturers

Recent Business Posts

  • Clearwater Properties Honors Top-Producing Agents of 2024 Across the Mountain West
  • Bridger Aerospace Inks $46 Million Sale-Leaseback Deal t
  • Stock Market Rides Wave of Tech Gains and Trade Hopes Amid Weekly Swings
  • Poll: College not preparing students for workforce, managers avoid hiring them

Copyright © 2025 Digital News Updates, All Rights Reserved.