DOJ sues Minnesota over 30-day gun-purchase waits, nearly 60 days in the Twin Cities. A right that takes two months deserves a hard look.

The Justice Department sued Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul on Thursday, arguing the state's permit rules for buying handguns and AR-15-style rifles violate the Second Amendment, KNSI reports. Buyers without a carry permit either wait 30 days after filing a transfer report or seek a permit to purchase, which police have up to 30 days to decide. The permit lasts a year, which the suit calls a new waiting period every year. The complaint says some Twin Cities buyers have waited nearly 60 days and that more than 93% of Minnesotans lack a carry permit. "When a person needs to defend their home, they need to defend it now," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. Attorney General Keith Ellison countered that the laws were passed democratically to keep guns from ineligible buyers and, citing a recent deadly shooting in Minneapolis, said the suit would make the state less safe. Under recent Supreme Court rulings, Minnesota must show its rules fit the nation's historical tradition of gun regulation. My view: a two-month wait for a permit to hand out pamphlets would be called a prior restraint. Rights can be regulated, but not rationed by the calendar. Let the court test it.