Maine institutes 72-hour waiting period for guns after mass shooting last year

Maine instituted gun control measures Friday, including a 72-hour waiting period for buying guns, one year after the state’s deadliest mass shooting.

State leaders have clamored to put into place gun control measures after Army reservist Robert Card murdered 18 people with a rifle in the tenth-deadliest mass shooting in United States history. One approved policy pushed by activists was a waiting period, requiring customers to wait 72 hours after purchasing a firearm to obtain it.

The new law won praise from gun control activists, including Maine Gun Safety Coalition executive director Nacole Parmer, who told the Associated Press that it would save lives.

Anti-gun control activists denounced the law and announced their plans to sue.

The other major opponents of the new law were gun sellers, who complained about the prospect of the law hurting sales and making the process obtuse.

“It’s as clear as mud,” Gun Owners of Maine's Laura Whitcomb told the outlet.

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Dave Labbe from the Kittery Trading Post expressed his concern that he would see a drop in customers, as a second trip to the store to buy the firearm would serve as an added inconvenience.

Other measures pushed through after the shooting were a strengthening of the state’s “yellow flag” laws, requiring background checks on people selling guns over social media, and banning the transfer of guns to people prohibited from buying them.