New Mexico’s law that imposed a seven-day waiting period for those purchasing firearms has been sent to legislative Hades after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals barred the state from enforcing it.
The law required gun buyers — even those who passed instant background checks — to wait for a week before taking possession of a firearm they had purchased. A lower court initially upheld the law after the NRA and other gun rights groups filed suit, arguing that “a seven-day wait did not infringe on Second Amendment rights since the right to acquire a firearm does not impede the right to keep or bear a firearm.”
The Tenth Circuit shot this argument down, holding that the waiting period does “infringe on the Second Amendment by preventing the lawful acquisition of firearms.” It also noted that the law does not pass the Supreme Court’s Bruen test, which requires gun control laws to be similar to restrictions enacted during the Founding era. The court pointed out that New Mexico’s law “does not fit intto any historically grounded exceptions to the right to keep and bear arms.”
🚨 NRA Victory! 10th Circuit holds New Mexico's 7-day waiting period unconstitutional in Ortega v. Grisham, a case brought by NRA and @MSLF, with the support of @NSSF. pic.twitter.com/u9tniwJd5t
— NRA (@NRA) August 19, 2025
The court further argued that the Second Amendment includes the right to acquire firearms, not just keep and bear them, just as “the right to free press necessarily includes the right to acquire a printing press.” It destroyed New Mexico’s argument that acquisition is separate from possession, pointed out that this logic “provides no limiting principle.”
This makes sense. If state governments can impose a seven-day waiting period, why couldn’t they extend it to seven months?
But the ruling didn’t stop there.
The court asserted that the Founding-era laws New Mexico cited as justification for the waiting period were not comparable. The government had referred to intoxication laws and group-based bans during this time period.
The ruling reversed the lower court’s ruling and placed an injunction on the enforcement of the law because it was likely unconstitutional. The case will still be litigated, but New Mexico will be unable to enforce the measure while the court proceedings are in effect.
John Commerford, the NRA’s Executive Director, lauded the ruling. “The 10th Circuit has sided with the NRA and held that radical waiting period laws are indeed unconstitutional,” he said, according to a press release. “This decision not only impacts gun owners in New Mexico but serves as a key piece in dismantling similar gun control laws across the country."
While the litigation is still ongoing, it seems clear that the courts will eventually strike down the law completely. During the Founding era, there were no laws requiring gun buyers to wait for a certain period of time before claiming their firearms. Not only is the law unnecessary, it is a clear infringement on the Second Amendment and needs to die a painful death.