Alaska has joined an amicus brief, led by the State of Montana, challenging the constitutionality of Maine’s 72-hour waiting periods for firearms purchases.

“The Constitution acknowledges the rights of citizens to firearms, and it is incredibly clear that nothing shall stop the free exercise of those rights,” Alaska’s Acting Alaska Attorney General Cori Mills noted in a Sept. 28 statement. “And yet, states like Maine have normalized making citizens wait to exercise the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.”

The brief targets a law in Maine that makes residents wait three days after purchasing a firearm before taking possession of it. The brief argues that when states, like Maine, enact laws mandating such delays, they violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. This would include possession of those arms.

The brief also states that “forcing a person to delay taking possession of a firearm is clearly ‘a restriction on possession’” and not compatible with the plain text of the U.S. Constitution.

Mills explained that Alaska joins these types of cases when further defining and clarifying Constitutional rights can help guarantee the rights of Alaskans, as well as American citizens.

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