Useless gun control begins in Maine as the 72 hour waiting period to purchase a firearm goes into effect August 9th. This law is a knee jerk reaction by the gun control community who capitalized on the horrific tragedy in Lewiston. The legacy of those who lost their lives because of the absolute failure of the government agencies who swore to protect them and had all the legal means to do so is now a law which may itself cost more innocent lives. Well played Maine gun grabbers.
A post purchase wait, a so-called ‘cooling off’ period, before taking delivery of a firearm is primarily designed as a suicide prevention measure, even though the waiting periods have never been proven to reduce suicide. Some studies have shown it ‘potentially’ reduces suicide by firearms, but none of the studies have ever looked at suicide as a whole. If denied the use of one means, a firearm, did the person simply commit suicide by another means, such as drugs, sharp objects, gravity from falling off a building or any of the myriad ways people have ended their own lives? The blanket claim of having a waiting period for firearm purchases prevent suicide is absolutely false, as is one of the left-wing sponsor’s statement of “It’s going to save lives”.
Advocates of this new gun control restriction admit that this particular bill has been around for years and was never able to get enough traction to be implemented. However, the tragic shooting in Lewiston allowed them to move it forward. While it would have done absolutely NOTHING to stop what happened, the gun control zealots were more than willing to celebrate the passage because of the outrage and sympathy the corpses of dead Mainers brought.
This new law is an example of the sickening mantra of “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.
Just as they have done in other previously free states, they needed to wait for a triggering event to get the gun control ball rolling. According to one sponsor, “There was a greater awareness of the prevalence of gun violence and a greater interest, perhaps, in addressing gun safety.”
Let’s not forget the legislative gamesmanship of the like rarely seen before in the State of Maine practiced to get this law passed. These included such tactics as having vulnerable Democrat members conveniently absent during key votes and an obscure “vote paring” scheme to create the illusion of opposition while passively allowing the measures to pass. The Governor herself allowed this bill to become law without her signature to create the optical illusion of not supporting gun control in a very pro Second Amendment state.
The law summary: “This bill requires a 72-hour waiting period between an agreement for the purchase and sale of a firearm and the delivery of that firearm to the purchaser. Certain exemptions, such as the sale to a federally licensed firearm dealer or a law enforcement officer, are specified.”
The law is horribly written and leaves many questions unanswered. Up until just days before it went into effect, there was zero guidance from the State about how this law would be implemented or enforced. The little direction there is has come in the form of a three page unsigned, undated, FAQ style document titled “Advisory on 72 Hour Waiting Period” with the seals of the Maine Department of Public Safety and Maine Office of the Attorney General at the top. See the attached document below.
What exactly constitutes an “agreement” is still open to interpretation, in other words an ideal law for discriminatory prosecutions. It could be a conversation, a phone call, a text or an actual exchange of money. The State will get to decide what is and isn’t an agreement on a case-by-case basis by making those they target prove they complied with the law, instead of the State proving they didn’t.
The idea that a cooling off period increases public safety is a sick joke. Suicide, while itself heartbreaking, is not so-called “gun violence”. A waiting period is however a hinderance to those who would need to purchase a firearm in an emergency for the protection of their lives or the lives of their family. While the new law gives exemptions for law enforcement, corrections and certain security officers, none is provided for victims or potential victims of violent acts. The State seems to feel they are better left unarmed and dependent on them for protection.
While other gun controlled states around the country with much longer waiting periods, such as California’s 10-day and New Mexico’s recently enacted seven day waiting period might consider Maine’s 3-day wait a dream, all recognize this is only the start and now that Maine has allowed the first gun control laws to come in, the floodgates will open.
What will follow is more small incremental, but absolutely necessary “common sense” steps to close the loopholes written into this law and increase the illusion of public safety. Given the gaping holes built into this starter gun control law, we should expect bills for state and local licensing and inspections retailers/Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL’s) to be introduced in the next legislative session.
Remember, gun control does absolutely nothing to increase public safety and the answer to fix that shortcoming is always to implement more gun control.
Lawsuits against the new law have been in the works by various Second Amendment supporting organizations since it was passed and will undoubtably be filed on or shortly after August 9th. Like similar efforts in other states, they will begin a long and expensive trip through the state and federal court systems. The gun control lobby and their paid contract legal resources will be doing everything in their power to draw this out until the makeup of the United States Supreme Court is changed and they are assured it will be adjudicated in their favor.
I’ll say it again, fighting gun control laws after they are passed is a fool’s errand. It is long shot to even get the right appeal and we the citizens of the United States are not only funding the appeal but the defense of an unconstitutional law. In this game, only the lawyers win and we the people lose our rights.
What does work? Electing representatives at the local, county, state and federal level who will NOT sell our constitutionally protected rights to the gun control zealots. EVERY seat on EVERY board matters.
Bob
Advisory On Waiting Period Law.pdf
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