Federal Court Slams New Mexico’s Waiting Period Law, RMGO Vindicated as 10th Circuit Grants Injunction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 22, 2025
DENVER, CO — In a landmark victory for gun owners across the West, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has blocked New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period law, granting an injunction and ordering the district court to halt enforcement while the case proceeds.
The panel ruled that blanket “cooling-off delays” impose a direct burden on the right to acquire firearms and are not shielded by Heller’s “presumptively lawful” carveouts. New Mexico’s law, the court concluded, is likely unconstitutional and an unlawful overreach.
“Today’s injunction proves what we’ve been shouting from the rooftops for years,” said Ian Escalante, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. “Everytown’s puppets thought they could hide behind phony ‘safety’ laws, but the courts are finally shutting them down. Our fight in Colorado laid the groundwork for victories like this across the entire Tenth Circuit, and gun owners in New Mexico just stopped a seven-day disarmament scheme dead in its tracks.”
Legal experts note that waiting period laws, adopted in several blue states in recent years, have become a flashpoint in the post-Bruen legal landscape. However, opponents point out that no such delays existed at the time of the Founding, making them difficult to justify under the Supreme Court’s new historical test.
“Make no mistake, this is the beginning of the end for waiting periods in America,” added Dudley Brown, President of RMGO. “Bruen torched the government’s balancing tests, and RMGO’s lawsuit against Colorado lit the fuse. Now, even a hostile bench admits these laws cannot stand. Colorado’s politicians should be shaking in their boots.”
RMGO continues to lead the legal charge in Colorado, targeting the state’s three-day waiting period, so-called “ghost gun” ban, Boulder County’s local restrictions, and other unconstitutional infringements passed by Governor Jared Polis and his allies.
With this injunction, enforcement of New Mexico’s waiting period is frozen until the case is resolved on the merits. RMGO attorneys are pressing the United States District Court for the District of Colorado to comply with the Tenth Circuit’s opinion in RMGO’s lawsuit (Garcia v. Polis), a ruling that should already allow Coloradans to purchase firearms on their own timeline, free from government-imposed delays.
“RMGO doesn’t just play defense; we go on offense to restore our rights,” Escalante concluded. “If politicians think they can trample the Constitution, today’s ruling proves them dead wrong.”
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners says the victory in New Mexico underscores its broader strategy of aggressively litigating in federal courts to dismantle unconstitutional gun control laws wherever they appear.
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners is a 501(c)(4) organization headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, with a mission to hold politicians accountable and protect the right of peaceable Americans to defend themselves, their families, and their property—without begging the government for permission. Since 1996, RMGO has led the fight against gun control with the support of more than 200,000 members and grassroots activists statewide.
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