The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a California law requiring a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases.
Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, wrote the opinion of the three-person panel that reversed a federal trial court that found the 10-day “cooling off” period was unconstitutional.
“Because we agree with the state that the 10-day waiting period is a reasonable safety precaution for all purchasers of firearms and need not be suspended once a purchaser has been approved, we reverse the district court’s judgment,” Schroeder wrote. “We do not need to decide whether the regulation is sufficiently longstanding to be presumed lawful. Applying intermediate scrutiny analysis, we hold that the law does not violate the Second Amendment rights of these plaintiffs, because the 10-day wait is a reasonable precaution for the purchase of a second or third weapon, as well as for a first purchase.”
Schroeder also wrote that the 10-day waiting period would have a deterrent effect on crime because gun owners looking to buy additional firearms may be dissuaded not to.
“An individual who already owns a hunting rifle, for example, may want to purchase a larger capacity weapon that will do more damage when fired into a crowd,” Schroeder wrote. “A 10-day cooling-off period would serve to discourage such conduct and would impose no serious burden on the core Second Amendment right of defense of the home.”
The Second Amendment Foundation and the Calguns Foundation, advocacy groups that oppose gun restrictions, sued over the California waiting period in 2011. The Calguns Foundation has reportedly indicated that it will appeal the decision.
