Big win for Florida gun owners! The state's ridiculous 3-day waiting period is officially dead in the water. After years of fighting in court, Florida officials caved and agreed to a judgment declaring that mandatory wait unconstitutional — meaning if your background check clears in an hour, you can walk out with your purchase that same day.
This all went down in Dunn v. Glass, where individual gun owners and two Florida gun shops, backed by the NRA and Mountain States Legal Foundation, took on the state over § 790.0655. That law forced everyone to wait three full days before taking their firearm home, regardless of how fast NICS comes back. The state's attorneys saw the writing on the wall after the Bruen decision and knew they couldn't defend an arbitrary delay with no historical basis, so they offered a settlement on June 5th and the plaintiffs accepted same-day.
Here's what this means for you as a customer: No more scheduling two trips to the shop. No more staring at that new pistol through the glass case for three whole days while you wait for the state to get out of the way. The background check still happens — that's the constitutional part. But when NICS clears in minutes or hours, the sale is done. The court permanently barred enforcement beyond what's needed for the check.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier actually acknowledged this was a constitutional violation, saying government exists to protect our God-given rights, not burden them with pointless delays. That's the right take.
This isn't just a Florida win — it's a warning shot to other states with similar waiting periods. New Mexico found out the hard way their 7-day wait was unconstitutional too. When courts apply the Bruen standard properly, these arbitrary delays don't stand a chance.
So if you're in Florida and been putting off buying a new firearm because of that forced three-day wait, head to your local shop. The unconstitutional obstacle is gone. The Constitution still stands.