On December 18, 2023, the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs filed a challenge to Vermont’s Large-Capacity Magazine (LCM) ban as well as Vermont’s 72-Hour Waiting Period. We immediately followed that by filing a motion for a Preliminary Injunction (PI) that would, if granted, have stayed the enforcement of both laws until the full challenge was heard and decided.
On July 18, 2024, the Federal District Court in Vermont denied our request for a PI on both challenges. The court decided that the VTFSC was unlikely to succeed on the merits of our LCM challenge because:
- The court did not accept that LCMs were in common use for self-defense and therefore were not protected under the 2nd Amendment; and
- Even if LCMs were protected by the 2nd Amendment, the court found that the State had demonstrated sufficient historical analogues for the constitutional restriction.
Regarding the 72-hour Waiting Period challenge, the court concluded:
- While the 2nd Amendment’s text allows us to keep and bear arms, it says nothing about acquiring them, with the court deciding that the 2nd Amendment wasn't implicated by a 72-hour Waiting Period; and
- Even if firearm acquisition did implicate the 2nd Amendment, the waiting period constituted a permissible commercial restriction intended to ensure that firearms were acquired for lawful purposes.
In the face of these egregious decisions and on the advice of counsel, the VTFSC appealed the Federal District Court’s denial of the PI to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on July 31st, 2024.
Prior to our appeal being heard by the 2nd Circuit, that court heard the case of NAGR v Lamont, with that case dealing with a LCM ban out of Connecticut. In that case, the 2nd ruled that LCM bans were Constitutional.
With that decision our challenge to Vermont’s LCM ban was rendered moot - until such time as SCOTUS renders a decision on LCMs.
So, while our challenge to Vermont’s LCM ban is set aside for now, our challenge to Vermont’s 72-hour Waiting Period is alive and well; with oral arguments heard by the 2nd Circuit on April 28th, 2026.
As a side note: There is now a “Circuit Split” between the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals (which ruled in Beckwith v Frey that Maine’s 72-hour waiting period ban WAS constitutional, overruling a Maine District Court’s opinion that it WASN’T) and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (which ruled in Ortega v Grisham that New Mexico’s 1-week waiting period WASN’T constitutional, overruling a New Mexico District Court’s opinion that is WAS).
Regarding our 2nd Circuit appeal, the three judges assigned to our case are:
- Barrington Parker – appointed by George W Bush;
- Richard Sullivan – appointed by Donald Trump; and
- Steven Menashi – appointed by Donald Trump
Given this panel, at present we expect a 2-1 ruling in our favor, possibly even a 3-0 ruling (AI estimates a 60-65% chance that the panel will reverse or vacate the District Court of Vermont’s denial of our PI).
While there is no 2nd Circuit rule concerning how long they can take to render a decision, we are hopeful to receive their decision before the end of 2026, since they have been considering this for approximately 3 ½ months and the court’s median time from an oral argument to disposition is 5 months.
A highly desirable outcome would be that Vermont’s 72-hour Waiting Period will be stayed (not enforced) by 2027 until the final outcome of our court challenge.
We remain confident of eventual victory on both the 72-Hour Waiting Period and LCM challenges; we fully expect that SCOTUS will decide the constitutionality of semi-automatic firearms by mid-2027 along the way; and we are especially pleased with what we currently see happening to the National Firearms Act (NFA) having to do with suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns.
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