Judge sides with gun advocates and pauses Maine gun law enacted in the wake of the Lewiston mass shooting
Portland, Maine (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday put a hold on a new three-day waiting period for gun purchases in Maine after reviewing a lawsuit filed against the rule by gun rights groups.
Maine's new gun rule took effect in August and was one of several gun control measures the state's Democratic-controlled Legislature passed after an Army reservist killed 18 people in Lewiston in October 2023 in the deadliest shooting in state history. Gun rights advocates challenged the waiting period law and asked for it to be paused pending the outcome of their case.
The gun advocates contend the law violates their 2nd Amendment rights. Federal judge Lance Walker wrote that the act 'employs no standard at all to justify disarming individuals,' and that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of individuals who contend it is illegal to require a person who passed a background check to wait 72 hours before completing a gun purchase. Maine's attorney general has said he intends to defend the law and that waiting periods have been upheld in other parts of the country.
Similar laws exist in about a dozen other states. Gun control advocates in Maine trumpeted the law as way to provide a cooling-off period for people intending to use a gun to do harm to others or themselves.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
13 minutes ago
- Associated Press
ABC's Terry Moran is suspended following his social media post calling Trump and Miller haters
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News has suspended correspondent Terry Moran for calling Trump administration deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller a 'world class hater' in a since-deleted social media post. Moran's post was swiftly condemned by officials in the Republican administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance. ABC News, in a statement, said it 'stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others.' The New York-based network said Moran was suspended pending further evaluation. Moran, who interviewed President Donald Trump a few weeks ago, said in his post on X at 12:06 a.m. on Sunday that the president was a world-class hater, too. But he wrote that for the president, his hatred is a means to an end, 'and that end is his own glorification.' For Miller, Moran's post said, 'his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.' Vance, on X, said that Moran's post was 'dripping with hatred.' The vice president wrote: 'Remember that every time you watch ABC's coverage of the Trump administration.' Miller, on X, said Moran's 'full public meltdown' exposed the corporate press. 'For decades, the privileged anchor and reporters narrating and gatekeeping our society have been radicals adopting a journalist's pose. Terry pulled off his mask.'
The Hill
16 minutes ago
- The Hill
Tough talk drags on in Cambodia-Thailand border standoff. But tensions appear to be easing
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's defense ministry on Monday said that the country's troops haven't withdrawn from a patch of land whose ownership is hotly disputed by neighboring Thailand, but the declaration also echoed recent statements by both sides seeking a peaceful resolution to their competing border claims. Cambodian and Thai authorities engaged in saber-rattling last week, after an armed confrontation at the border on May 28 left one Cambodian soldier dead. The incident, which each side blamed on the other, reportedly took place in a relatively small 'no man's land' constituting territory along their border that both countries claim is theirs. A declaration by the Cambodian defense ministry on Monday had 'No Withdrawal of Troops' as its first principle. It said that 'Cambodian forces have not been withdrawn from any areas under Cambodian sovereignty where they have been stationed for an extended period.' The wording left unclear exactly which positions had been occupied for 'an extended period.' His statement also reaffirmed Cambodia's territorial claims covering not only the spot near Morakot village in Cambodia's northwestern province of Preah Vihear where the soldier was killed, but also three other pieces of disputed land. Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha himself on Sunday had painted a slightly different picture, stating that Cambodia and Thai military leaders had met and decided to adjust the military forces of both sides to return to appropriate areas in order to reduce tension and confront each other on the border. His statement appeared to be in accord with what Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai announced on Sunday, that both sides had withdrawn their forces to where they had been in 2024. That came after Thailand began shutting or limiting crossing hours at some of the numerous checkpoints along the countries' common border. The tough talk on both sides appeared aimed mostly at drumming up nationalist support among their own domestic audiences. In Thailand, the elected government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been attacked by right-wing nationalists who are longtime foes of her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Already last year, Paetongtarn's government was attacked on nationalist grounds for proposing to resume talks with Cambodia on demarcation of maritime territory believed to hold profitable hydrocarbon resources. There is a long history to disputes over border territory, leaving Thailand especially bitter. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, awarded to Cambodia the disputed territory on which stands the historic Preah Vihear temple. The ruling, which became a major irritant in bilateral relations, was reaffirmed in 2013. There had been serious though sporadic clashes there in 2011. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet last week vowed to take the cases of the four currently disputed areas to the court to determine ownership, even if Thailand didn't join in the appeal, in order 'to end this problem and extinguish it once and for all so that there is no further confusion.'
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tough talk drags on in Cambodia-Thailand border standoff. But tensions appear to be easing
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's defense ministry on Monday said that the country's troops haven't withdrawn from a patch of land whose ownership is hotly disputed by neighboring Thailand, but the declaration also echoed recent statements by both sides seeking a peaceful resolution to their competing border claims. Cambodian and Thai authorities engaged in saber-rattling last week, after an armed confrontation at the border on May 28 left one Cambodian soldier dead. The incident, which each side blamed on the other, reportedly took place in a relatively small 'no man's land' constituting territory along their border that both countries claim is theirs. A declaration by the Cambodian defense ministry on Monday had 'No Withdrawal of Troops' as its first principle. It said that 'Cambodian forces have not been withdrawn from any areas under Cambodian sovereignty where they have been stationed for an extended period.' The wording left unclear exactly which positions had been occupied for 'an extended period.' His statement also reaffirmed Cambodia's territorial claims covering not only the spot near Morakot village in Cambodia's northwestern province of Preah Vihear where the soldier was killed, but also three other pieces of disputed land. Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha himself on Sunday had painted a slightly different picture, stating that Cambodia and Thai military leaders had met and decided to adjust the military forces of both sides to return to appropriate areas in order to reduce tension and confront each other on the border. His statement appeared to be in accord with what Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai announced on Sunday, that both sides had withdrawn their forces to where they had been in 2024. That came after Thailand began shutting or limiting crossing hours at some of the numerous checkpoints along the countries' common border. The tough talk on both sides appeared aimed mostly at drumming up nationalist support among their own domestic audiences. In Thailand, the elected government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been attacked by right-wing nationalists who are longtime foes of her father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Already last year, Paetongtarn's government was attacked on nationalist grounds for proposing to resume talks with Cambodia on demarcation of maritime territory believed to hold profitable hydrocarbon resources. There is a long history to disputes over border territory, leaving Thailand especially bitter. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, awarded to Cambodia the disputed territory on which stands the historic Preah Vihear temple. The ruling, which became a major irritant in bilateral relations, was reaffirmed in 2013. There had been serious though sporadic clashes there in 2011. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet last week vowed to take the cases of the four currently disputed areas to the court to determine ownership, even if Thailand didn't join in the appeal, in order 'to end this problem and extinguish it once and for all so that there is no further confusion.'
