Last updated October 2026 · By Nick Hall, who reads Supreme Court order lists line by line and has covered the Maine, New Mexico and Minnesota waiting period fights
Quick take: The Supreme Court won’t hear the challenge to Maine’s 72-hour wait to take home a gun you’ve already agreed to buy. It denied Beckwith v. Frey on its October 19 order list with no noted dissent, so the wait stays in force and the First Circuit’s ruling stands.
- Ruling: The Supreme Court denied review in Beckwith v. Frey, No. 26-258, on October 19, 2026, with no noted dissent and no written statement.
- Court: The decision left standing is the First Circuit’s April 3, 2026 opinion in No. 25-1160, which found Maine’s waiting period likely constitutional and vacated an injunction against it.
- Why it matters: Maine sellers still cannot hand over a gun sooner than 72 hours after the sale agreement, and nothing in a denial says the law is constitutional.
- What’s next: The case goes back to federal district court in Maine, where the merits were put on hold in April until the Supreme Court dealt with the petition.
Most Supreme Court denials arrive as one line in a long list, and this one did too: case number 26-258, Beckwith against Maine’s attorney general, filed under the heading CERTIORARI DENIED. That single line settles more for Maine gun buyers than every brief on the docket. We pulled the order list, the docket and the First Circuit opinion so you don’t have to.
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Table of Contents
What the Beckwith v. Frey Denial Actually Says
The Court released its October 19, 2026 order list on a Monday, after the petition had been distributed for the justices’ October 16 conference. The docket records the result in two words: “Petition DENIED.”
No justice is listed as dissenting, and no one wrote a statement. That isn’t because the list is quiet about disagreement. The same order list carries written statements by Justice Sotomayor in other cases, and in one unrelated case it notes that Justice Alito would have granted review. Nothing like that appears next to 26-258.
Here is the premise check. A denial means the Court declined to take the case. It is not a ruling that Maine’s law is constitutional, and it sets no precedent for any other court. The Court’s own Rule 10 puts it plainly: “Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion.”
The order gives no reasons, and I am not going to invent any. Maine never had to defend the law in writing at this stage. It waived its right to respond on September 24, and the Court never asked for a response.
The challengers did not lack company. Amicus briefs from the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA, from the Buckeye Institute, and from a coalition of states led by Montana all urged the Court to take the case. None of that changed the one-line result.
The First Circuit Ruling That Still Stands
With review denied, the controlling decision is the First Circuit’s April 3, 2026 opinion in No. 25-1160. Judge Aframe wrote it for a panel that included Judges Montecalvo and Thompson.
The panel held that “laws regulating the purchase or acquisition of firearms do not target conduct” covered by the Second Amendment’s plain text. Because of that, it stopped at step one of Bruen and never reached the historical analysis.
It called the law “a burden on, but not an infringement of,” the right to keep and bear arms, and described the 72 hours as “only a modest delay” that runs no longer than federal law already allows for a background check. It also rejected the claim that the law is abusive, calling it a “non-abusive effort by Maine to address a documented problem.”
Two limits matter. That was a ruling on a preliminary injunction, and the panel said only that the law is “likely constitutional,” then sent the case back for further proceedings. It is also circuit law for the First Circuit, which covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico, and nowhere else.
The law came out of the October 2023 Lewiston shooting, in which the opinion records that eighteen people were killed and thirteen others were injured. It took effect on August 9, 2024. Judge Lance E. Walker of the District of Maine blocked it on February 13, 2025, and the First Circuit’s ruling wiped that injunction out.
What the 72-Hour Rule Means at a Maine Gun Counter
Nothing changes for buyers, because nothing was paused. Under 25 M.R.S. § 2016, “A seller may not knowingly deliver a firearm to a buyer pursuant to an agreement sooner than 72 hours after the agreement.” The clock starts at the agreement, and the statute says the 72 hours run concurrently with any background check wait.
The law regulates sellers. A seller who breaks it commits a civil violation with a fine of $200 to $500, rising to $500 to $1,000 for a repeat. The buyer isn’t the one who gets fined.
The wait doesn’t apply when the seller knows the buyer is a law enforcement officer, a corrections officer, or a licensed private security guard or contract security employee. It also skips sales to dealers, sales between family members, antiques, curios and relics traded between licensed collectors, and any transfer where no background check is required. A 2025 amendment added one more: a dealer handing a gun or frame back to the same person after imprinting a serial number on it.
If you’re buying in Maine, plan on three days between agreeing to the sale and taking the gun home. Our Maine gun laws guide covers the rest of the rulebook, from constitutional carry to the state’s yellow flag and red flag laws.
The Waiting Period Split the Court Left Open
The denial leaves the First and Tenth Circuits on opposite sides. In Ortega v. Grisham, 148 F.4th 1134 (10th Cir. 2025), the Tenth Circuit ruled against New Mexico’s seven-day wait, and the First Circuit’s own opinion cites that case as the other side of the argument.
New Mexico asked the full Tenth Circuit to rehear Ortega and lost 10-2, according to a new complaint filed the same day as the Beckwith denial. That suit, NSSF v. Torrez, No. 1:26-cv-03514 in the District of New Mexico, was brought on October 19 by NSSF, the NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation, three Albuquerque gun dealers and others. It says the state has taken the position that it can keep enforcing the wait against everyone except the two people who won Ortega.
That is why New Mexico’s waiting period lost in court and still applies to most buyers there. A ruling for two named plaintiffs is not a ruling for the whole state.
And Minnesota is a third front. On September 24 the Justice Department sued Minnesota over its 30-day wait for buyers who do not intend to carry in public, along with waits in Minneapolis and St. Paul that it says can run nearly 60 days. A denial in one case binds nothing in another, so both fights carry on exactly where they were.
Where Beckwith v. Frey Goes From Here
Back to Maine. While the petition was pending, the merits case sat paused in the District of Maine. Both sides filed a joint motion on April 28, 2026 asking to keep it stayed “pending resolution of Plaintiffs’ forthcoming petition for writ of certiorari,” and Judge Walker granted it the next day.
That petition is now resolved, which removes the stated reason for the pause. The motion also kept the right for either side to ask the court to lift the stay, so what happens next on the merits is up to the parties and Judge Walker.
For a Maine buyer who clears the background check in minutes, the practical takeaway is small and unhappy: the gun stays behind the counter for 72 hours, the challenge that might have changed that is back in district court, and the Supreme Court has not said a word about whether any of it is constitutional.
One line on an order list. Three days at the counter, same as last week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Maine's 72-hour waiting period still in effect?
Yes. The First Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction against it on April 3, 2026, finding the law likely constitutional, and the Supreme Court denied review on October 19, 2026. Maine sellers cannot deliver a gun sooner than 72 hours after the sale agreement.
What did the Supreme Court decide in Beckwith v. Frey?
It declined to hear the case. The October 19, 2026 order list puts Beckwith v. Frey, No. 26-258, on the list of denied petitions with no noted dissent and no written statement. The Court did not rule on whether Maine's waiting period is constitutional.
Does a cert denial mean the Supreme Court agrees with the lower court?
No. Under the Court's Rule 10, review on a writ of certiorari is a matter of judicial discretion, not a right. A denial leaves the lower court's ruling in place but is not a decision on the merits and sets no precedent for other cases.
Who is exempt from Maine's waiting period?
Sales where the seller knows the buyer is a law enforcement officer, a corrections officer, or a licensed private security guard or contract security employee. Sales to firearm dealers, sales between family members, antique firearms, curios and relics traded between licensed collectors, and transfers that need no background check are also exempt, as is a dealer returning a gun it has just serialized to the same owner.
What happens if a Maine seller hands over a gun before 72 hours?
The seller commits a civil violation with a fine of $200 to $500. A seller who has already been found in violation once faces a fine of $500 to $1,000 for a repeat. The statute regulates the seller, not the buyer.
Does Maine's 72-hour wait start after the background check?
No. The clock starts when the buyer and seller reach an agreement for the sale, and the statute says the 72 hours run concurrently with any waiting period imposed by a federal or state background check.
Has any federal appeals court ruled against a gun waiting period?
Yes. In Ortega v. Grisham (2025) the Tenth Circuit ruled against New Mexico's seven-day waiting period, and the full court declined to rehear it. An industry lawsuit filed October 19, 2026 says New Mexico still takes the position that it can enforce the wait against everyone but the two people who won that case.
Related Reading
- Maine’s 72-Hour Gun Wait Heads to a Supreme Court Conference
- Maine Gun Laws: Constitutional Carry, 72-Hour Wait and Red Flag Law
- New Mexico’s Waiting Period Lost in Court and Still Applies to You
- DOJ Sues Minnesota Over 30-Day Handgun Purchase Wait
- New Mexico Gun Laws
- US Gun Laws by State
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