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Thirty days can feel like an eternity when someone is trying to exercise a right they believe should be immediate. That's precisely the argument now driving a new federal lawsuit against Minnesota and its two largest cities, which claims the state's statutory framework for purchasing handguns and certain rifles violates the Second Amendment rights of residents who lack a permit to carry.

The Specific Laws Under Fire

The lawsuit takes direct aim at two interlocking pieces of state law. The first requires standard firearm purchases to undergo a mandatory delay of up to 30 days while a transferee report makes its way to the purchaser's local police chief or sheriff. The second requires Minnesotans to obtain a separate permit to purchase from those same local law enforcement officials before completing a transaction — a two-layered bureaucratic process the federal government argues creates an unconstitutional obstacle.

When 30 Days Stretches Into Nearly 60

While Minnesota law technically allows up to 30 days for a permit-to-purchase application to be approved, the lawsuit alleges that actual wait times for approvals from police chiefs in St. Paul and Minneapolis routinely exceed that window — with some citizens reportedly waiting nearly 60 days just to hear back, effectively doubling the delay the law itself supposedly caps.

A Right Delayed for the Vast Majority

The lawsuit emphasizes a striking statistic: more than 93% of Minnesota residents do not hold a carry permit. As a result, the suit argues, Minnesotans "who merely wish to defend their home" are forced to endure a 30-day waiting period every single time they seek to purchase a firearm — a burden the federal government characterizes as falling on the overwhelming majority of the state's population rather than some narrow exception.

Seeking Comment From All Sides

WCCO has reached out to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, the City of St. Paul and the City of Minneapolis for comment on the lawsuit, though responses from those parties were not immediately available.

What the Federal Government Is Asking For

At the heart of the legal request, the federal government is asking the court to enter a permanent injunction that would halt enforcement of both the waiting-period requirement and the permit-to-purchase mandate entirely — a remedy that, if granted, would fundamentally reshape how Minnesota residents go about buying firearms.

As this case moves through the courts, it sits squarely at the intersection of two competing interests that have long defined the national gun debate — the government's stated goal of ensuring careful vetting before a firearm changes hands, and the constitutional argument that any delay, however well-intentioned, still amounts to a right postponed.