Waiting Periods Struck Down

 This decision Ortega v. Grisham (10th Cir. 2025) actually happened in August striking down New Mexico's waiting period law.

Cooling-off periods infringe on the Second Amendment by preventing the lawful acquisition of firearms. 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. In this preliminary posture, we conclude that New Mexico's Waiting Period Act is likely an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens. We also conclude the other preliminary injunction factors are met and that Plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction.

Why this is now current is that New Mexico asked for an en banc appeal.

This matter is before the court on Defendants/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc, and Plaintiffs-Appellants’ Response in Opposition to Petition for Rehearing En Banc. The petition and the response were circulated to all judges of the court who are in regular active service, and a poll was called. The poll did not carry. Consequently, the petition is DENIED.  Judges Moritz and Federico would grant the petition. Judge Federico has filed a separate dissent from the denial of en banc rehearing, which is joined by Judge Moritz.

All 12 active judges on the 10th Circuit heard this.  Only two voted for en banc appeal. 

This matter is before the court on Defendants/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc, and Plaintiffs-Appellants’ Response in Opposition to Petition for Rehearing En Banc. The petition and the response were circulated to all judges of the court who are in regular active service, and a poll was called. The poll did not carry. Consequently, the petition is DENIED.  Judges Moritz and Federico would grant the petition. Judge Federico has filed a separate dissent from the denial of en banc rehearing, which is joined by Judge Moritz. 

Waiting periods are among the dumbest gun control laws.  If done as part of a background check scheme, I can see the logic.  But dealer firearms transfers already go through a background check.  These are just harassment.

Murder is largely done in the wee hours:

It turns out that many murders happen after midnight and into the wee hours. Crimeinamerica.com, which analyzes federal and state criminality data, concluded after reviewing 2018 FBI data that the deadliest time of day is midnight-1:00 a.m. Homicide figures stayed relatively high until 3 a.m.

“We are talking about a massive amount of data thus the findings remain relevant,” crimeinamerica.com site administrator Leonard Sipes, a former senior specialist for crime prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse, told Oxygen.

More recently, Denver Police Department homicide figures showed that the wee hours were indeed most deadly. Of the 96 Denver homicides during 2021, more than a third, or 35, took place between midnight and 5 a.m., reported westword.com.

If a person is so angry that a waiting period will stop them from committing murder, I am skeptical that waiting seven days will change anything.