Published September 17, 2026 at 4:29 PM ET · Updated September 17, 2026 at 6:16 PM ET
DOJ signals lawsuit over Minnesota's 30-day gun waiting period
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by Bearing Arms. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
The Department of Justice has signaled that it plans to sue Minnesota over the state's 30-day waiting period for gun purchases. The move indicates federal action against the state law.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 13 d ago, when Bearing Arms reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 13 d ago from Bearing Arms.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
The fight is whether a 30-day delay counts among the conditions on commercial sale that Heller said remain presumptively lawful. Bruen held that once the Amendment's plain text covers conduct, the government must justify the rule with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. None of these cases decides a waiting period, so whether Minnesota's delay survives that history test is unsettled.
District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
