Federal Court Upholds 10-Day Waiting Period For Gun Purchases

gun waiting period

Gun owners across America just received a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings after a federal appeals court upheld a California state law requiring a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of all firearms in the state.

The judge, Mary Schroedere, was a Jimmy Carter appointee, and wrote the majority opinion for the three-judge panel. The challenge to the California law was brought by a group of Second Amendment advocates who claim the law infringes on their constitutional rights.

The court chose to apply what is known as “intermediate scrutiny” when it evaluated the merits of the gun control law, meaning that the government had to prove “that the law furthers an important government interest by means which are substantially related to that interest.”

From the court’s ruling:

Thus the waiting period, as applied to these Plaintiffs, and the safety storage precautions, as applied to the plaintiffs in Jackson, have a similar effect. Their purpose is to promote public safety. Their effect is to require individuals to stop and think before being able to use a firearm.

The State is required to show only that the regulation ‘promotes a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.’ The State has established that there is a reasonable fit between important safety objectives and the application of the WPLs to Plaintiffs in this case. The waiting period provides time not only for a background check, but also for a cooling-off period to deter violence resulting from impulsive purchases of firearms. The State has met its burden.

Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote a concurring opinion in which he agreed with the court’s ruling, but believed that the law was constitutional “because of the Supreme Court’s ruling in D.C. v. Heller, which sanctioned longstanding regulations on the commercial sale of guns.”

A lower court initially sided with the gun-rights groups and struck down the California law but since the appeals court reversed the decision, the groups can appeal to the full 9th Circuit.

Given the 9th Circuit court’s liberal leaning, it seems highly unlikely that Second Amendment advocates will get a ruling in their favor. Given that President-elect Trump will appoint a new Supreme Court justice next year, if gun rights groups appeal to the highest court in the land, they may eventually get a favorable outcome.

H/T: The Daily Caller

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