State rebuts gun group’s request for pause on waiting period [Video]

The Office of the Maine Attorney General has filed a motion requesting that a federal judge deny a gun rights advocacy group’s attempt to block the state’s implementation of a 72-hour waiting period on gun sales.

A group of firearms advocates filed a lawsuit challenging the three-day waiting period in November, arguing that the new law violates the U.S. Constitution. The suit has been backed by firearms groups Gun Owners of Maine and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

As part of their lawsuit, the group motioned to have the law’s implementation put on pause until the suit is settled. But in a filing on Friday, the state argues that the lawsuit is unlikely to win on its merits, and the injunction should be denied.

The state argued in its motion that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep arms but “does not apply to a law regulating the acquisition of arms unless the law is so burdensome that it effectively prohibits keeping …