First Circuit Says Second Amendment Does Not Protect Buying Guns in Beckwith v. Frey

Summary

The First Circuit Court of Appeals, in *Beckwith v. Frey*, upheld Maine's 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases (Me. Stat. tit. 25, § 2016). The three-judge panel controversially ruled that the Second Amendment's plain text guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, but not the right to acquire or purchase them, creating a significant circuit split with other federal appeals courts.