By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A three-judge panel of federal appellate judges ruled Tuesday that New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period on gun purchases likely infringes on citizens’ Second Amendment rights, putting the law on hold pending a legal challenge.
The ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sends the case back to a lower court. New Mexico’s waiting period went into effect in May 2024 and does include an exception for concealed permit holders.
“Cooling-off periods do not fit into any historically grounded exceptions to the right to keep and bear arms, and burden conduct within the Second Amendment’s scope,” wrote Judge Timothy Tymkovich in the split 2-1 ruling. ”We conclude that New Mexico’s Waiting Period Act is likely an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens.
Colorado enacted a three-day waiting period in 2023. That law was immediately challenged in federal court but a judge has allowed it to stay in effect while the case moves forward. Because the state is covered by the 10th Circuit, the ultimate outcome of the New Mexico case could apply here.
However, in Tuesday’s ruling, the 10th Circuit panel noted that the lower court should apply its injunction in the New Mexico case narrowly, in keeping with the new precedent set by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the birthright citizenship case earlier this summer.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Scott Matheson said New Mexico’s waiting period “establishes a condition or qualification on the commercial sale of arms that does not serve abusive ends.”
Matheson based his dissent largely on a 10th Circuit decision from last year, in which the appeals court overturned an injunction against Colorado’s law raising the purchase age for all guns to 21. In that ruling, the court found that restrictions on commercial firearm sales don’t need to meet the same legal standards as restrictions on ownership.
The National Rifle Association and Mountain States Legal Foundation, an advocacy group for gun rights, filed New Mexico the lawsuit on behalf of two residents, citing concerns about delayed access to weapons for victims of domestic violence and others.
In a statement, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed “deep disappointment” and said Tuesday’s ruling was likely to cost lives.
“New Mexico’s waiting period law was carefully crafted to minimize gun violence while respecting Second Amendment rights,” said Lujan Grisham, highlighting additional exceptions for gun purchases by law enforcement officers and transactions between immediate family members. “Waiting periods prevent impulsive acts of violence and suicide, giving people time to step back and reassess their emotions during moments of crisis.”
It was unclear whether the governor and legislators would request a broader review by a majority of judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Only California, Hawaii and Washington, along with the District of Columbia, have longer waiting periods than New Mexico — ranging up to 14 days, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Rhode Island also has a seven-day wait.
Michael McCoy, director of the Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms, applauded the ruling. The group is also challenging Colorado’s waiting period law.
“The court found that there was no analogous law from that era that would support the modern day law that’s at issue,” McCoy said. “For now, it means New Mexicans can go buy their firearms without an arbitrary delay imposed.”
John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, said the appeals court decision "serves as a key piece in dismantling similar gun control laws across the country.”
Both New Mexico and Colorado have passed a raft of policies restricting access to guns. Both states have instituted “red flag” laws allowing a court to temporarily remove guns from people who might hurt themselves or others and restrictions on guns near polling places.
In 2023, Lujan Grisham suspended the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque in response to a series of shootings around the state that left children dead.
In April, she declared a state of emergency in Albuquerque, saying that a significant increase in crime warranted the help of the New Mexico National Guard. And last week she declared a state of emergency in response to violent crime and drug trafficking across a swath of northern New Mexico in Rio Arriba County.
CPR’s Megan Verlee contributed to this story
