NRA Sues New Mexico Again

The NRA and a coalition of gun-rights groups filed a new federal lawsuit against New Mexico on October 19 after the state refused to stop enforcing a waiting-period law a federal appeals court already declared unconstitutional.

State of play: New Mexico requires nearly all firearm buyers to wait seven full days before taking possession of a gun—even if they clear an instant background check in minutes. Blow the deadline and both buyer and seller face misdemeanor charges.

Catch up quick:

• In Ortega v. Grisham, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the waiting period violates the Second Amendment, both on its face and as applied—except for buyers whose background checks don't clear within three days.
• In August, a district court entered summary judgment for the plaintiffs, formally declaring the law unconstitutional as applied to anyone who passes the federal background check.
• New Mexico officials responded by claiming those rulings only protect the two individual plaintiffs named in Ortega—nobody else.

The legal question: Can a state keep enforcing a law a federal appeals court has already called unconstitutional, just by arguing the ruling doesn't technically bind anyone except the specific people who sued? That's the fight now playing out in NSSF v. Torrez, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

The new plaintiff list is broad: the NRA, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation, New Mexico Firearms Industry Association, New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, two retailers (Calibers Shooting Sports Center and Omni Tactical USA), Right to Bear Arms, and NRA member Peter Hackett. The lawsuit doesn't ask the court to re-litigate whether the waiting period is constitutional—the Tenth Circuit already settled that. It asks the court to make New Mexico actually comply.

Between the lines: New Mexico hasn't just continued enforcing the law—it's threatened criminal prosecution against retailers and purchasers who don't comply, according to the filing. That's a notable escalation: state officials aren't quietly ignoring an inconvenient ruling, they're actively warning gun shops that noncompliance carries jail-time exposure, even after a federal appeals court found the underlying law unconstitutional.

What to watch: If the district court sides with the plaintiffs, it would likely force New Mexico to stop enforcing the waiting period against any buyer who clears a background check, not just the original Ortega plaintiffs. That outcome would end the law in practice statewide, though New Mexico could still appeal. NRA-ILA says it will post updates at nraila.org/litigation as the case moves.

For now, New Mexico gun buyers and sellers remain stuck in the same legal gray zone: a law courts say is unconstitutional, still carrying criminal penalties for anyone who doesn't wait out the clock.