Original article can be found here.
The Second Amendment Foundation has asked a federal court for a preliminary injunction to stop New Mexico from enforcing its seven-day firearms waiting period statewide. The state has kept the cooling-off period in force against every purchaser except two prior litigants. That selective pause followed a Tenth Circuit holding that the wait is unconstitutional for buyers who pass a background check. SAF is asking the court to apply that holding to the whole state, not a pair of prior litigants.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the National Rifle Association, and the Second Amendment Foundation had already sued seeking statewide relief. New Mexico did not drop the delay. It carved out two people who had already fought the law in court and left the rest of the public waiting seven days after a firearms purchase. A constitutional right the state honors only after a lawsuit is not being honored at all.
NSSF challenged the seven-day wait after the governor ignored court rulings declaring it unconstitutional. The NRA filed another lawsuit against the same cooling-off period. Mountain States Legal Foundation returned to court to end the waiting period statewide. The filings describe the same problem: New Mexico is treating a Tenth Circuit holding as a private exemption instead of binding law.
The Second Amendment does not authorize a cooling-off period for citizens who have already cleared a background check. The Tenth Circuit held the New Mexico wait unconstitutional in that circumstance. Statutes do not outrank the Constitution. State officials who continue to enforce a delay the courts have already rejected are choosing the statute over the right.
Waiting periods delay the exercise of an enumerated right. For a buyer who has passed a background check, the seven-day hold is not a safety screen. It is a pause the state imposes after it already knows the purchaser is not prohibited. The Tenth Circuit’s holding tracks that distinction. New Mexico’s continued enforcement against everyone but two litigants does not.
SAF’s motion asks the federal court to issue a preliminary injunction covering the entire state. Statewide relief is what NSSF, NRA, and SAF sought when they sued. Until that injunction issues, New Mexico is still imposing a seven-day wait on firearms purchases by people who are not the two prior litigants.
The next move belongs to the court. A preliminary injunction would stop the waiting period while the case proceeds, for every lawful buyer in New Mexico, not only for those who already litigated. Officials who swore an oath to the Constitution do not get to ration that right two plaintiffs at a time.
References
- https://saf.org/motion-for-preliminary-injunction-filed-in-firearms-purchase-waiting-period-case/
- https://saf.org/saf-partners-challenge-new-mexicos-firearms-purchase-waiting-period/
- https://www.nraila.org/articles/20261019/nra-files-another-lawsuit-challenging-new-mexico-s-7-day-waiting-period-law
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nssf-challenges-new-mexicos-rights-delayed-seven-day-waiting-period-after-governor-ignores-court-rulings-declaring-it-unconstitutional-302914315.html
- https://www.theoutdoorwire.com/releases/2026/10/saf-partners-challenge-new-mexicos-firearms-purchase-waiting-period
- https://x.com/2AFDN/status/2113637406780137488
- https://mslegal.org/press-releases/mslf-returns-to-court-to-end-new-mexicos-unconstitutional-seven-day-firearm-waiting-period-statewide/
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