A legislative committee voted Friday not to reconsider the state’s 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases until next year to allow the courts time to rule on a pending lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality.

Maine’s Legislature passed the waiting period last year as part of a broader effort to tighten gun laws after a gunman killed 18 people in Lewiston in October 2023.

Gun safety advocates have argued the 72-hour waiting period would prevent violence and suicides by giving people a “cooling off” period before they’re able to access a gun. Opponents say the law is an unconstitutional infringement on the right to own firearms.

Gun rights advocates sued the state last fall to overturn the waiting period law. The outcome of the lawsuit is pending, but a federal judge’s ruling in February paused implementation of the law while the case works its way through the court system.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers introduced two bills this year to repeal the law — LD 208  and LD 1230. The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee voted Friday to postpone debate and action on the two bills until next year because of the uncertain legal status. Committee members from both parties agreed to the postponement.

Lawmakers only narrowly passed the 72-hour waiting period last year, with the House of Representatives voting 73-70 and the Senate voting 18-17. Republicans gained a few seats in the last election, and it wasn’t clear if the law still has enough support to survive a challenge in the Legislature.

Gov. Janet Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature, saying at the time that she was deeply conflicted over the bill and that similar laws were being challenged in other states, including Vermont. The Vermont lawsuit is still being litigated.