Justice Department gives Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul until September 23 to negotiate before potentially filing federal lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice has put Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul on notice that they could soon face a federal lawsuit over the state’s laws requiring residents to wait as long as 30 days to purchase a handgun.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon sent a September 17 letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her informing them that the Justice Department has authorized the filing of a federal lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s handgun purchase requirements.
The DOJ gave the state and the two cities until 5:00 p.m. EST on September 23 to enter negotiations. If they do not, the Justice Department says it may file its complaint “without further notice.”
At the center of the dispute are two Minnesota processes that can require residents to wait up to 30 days before completing a firearm purchase: the state’s Transferee Report process and its Permit to Purchase system.
Under Minnesota law, a person purchasing a handgun — or certain other firearms covered by the statute — generally must either submit the required transferee paperwork to local law enforcement and wait before taking possession, or obtain a Permit to Purchase.
Minnesota law provides a 30-day waiting period for the transferee process, although local law enforcement can waive all or part of that period under certain circumstances.
The DOJ’s concern is particularly focused on Minneapolis and St. Paul, where the department says residents have experienced delays that extend beyond the statutory 30-day period.
According to Dhillon’s letter, some residents have been forced to wait nearly 60 days before receiving approval.
That means a Minnesota resident who has already undergone and passed the required federal background check may still be prohibited from taking possession of a lawfully purchased firearm for weeks.
The DOJ argues that these delays implicate the Second Amendment right to acquire and possess firearms.
The Justice Department’s legal argument relies in part on the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment precedent and a recent federal appellate decision concerning firearm waiting periods.
Dhillon’s letter cites the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which addressed government-imposed delays in the context of concealed carry licensing.
The DOJ also points to the Tenth Circuit’s 2025 decision in Ortega v. Grisham, which struck down New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period for firearm purchases.
In Ortega, the court concluded that acquiring and purchasing firearms are integral to the Second Amendment’s protections. The DOJ argues that Minnesota’s 30-day waiting period — and the longer delays experienced by some residents — raises similar Constitutional concerns.
The Justice Department’s planned lawsuit would make two primary claims.
First, it would challenge Minnesota’s statutory requirements as violating the Second Amendment by imposing what the DOJ describes as unnecessary delays on the acquisition of lawfully owned firearms.
Second, the DOJ says the implementation of those policies by the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments constitutes a pattern or practice that deprives individuals of Constitutional rights.
The case therefore goes beyond simply challenging a waiting period on paper. The Justice Department is also scrutinizing how the requirements are actually administered by local law enforcement.
Instead, the September 17 letter gives Minnesota and the two cities an opportunity to resolve the dispute before litigation begins.
However, the terms proposed by the Justice Department indicate that any resolution would require significant changes.
According to the letter, the DOJ would require Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul to cease enforcement of the challenged statutes, acknowledge their unconstitutionality, and enter into a court-enforceable consent decree preventing future violations of citizens’ constitutional rights.
If negotiations do not produce an agreement by the September 23 deadline, the Justice Department has indicated that it could proceed directly to federal court.
The dispute could ultimately give the federal courts another opportunity to address how far governments can go in delaying the acquisition of firearms by individuals who are otherwise legally permitted to possess them.
If the DOJ follows through on its warning, the resulting lawsuit could become an important new Second Amendment case concerning government-imposed waiting periods and the right to acquire a firearm.
Read more at USACarry.com.
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