Waiting period

[1] In the United States, the term is commonly used in reference to gun control, abortion and marriage licences, as some U.S. states require a person to wait for a set number of days after buying or reserving a firearm from a dealer before actually taking possession of it, a woman waiting for an abortion and individuals making applications on marriage licences.

[4] Other activities potentially subject to waiting periods include marriage,[5] divorce, abortion access for women, and merger proceedings.

A waiting period between purchase and handover of a firearm allows can have several purposes: The Washington Post points to[6] research collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[7] and various papers[8][9] expressing a scientific assessment that: As of 2015, ten U.S. states and equivalents have mandatory waiting periods, from 1 to 14 days: California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, and Rhode Island for all guns; and Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Jersey for handguns only.

[10] A 2018 suicide prompted the Vermont legislature to pass a waiting period bill, but it was vetoed by governor Phil Scott in June, 2019.

[11] For all firearms Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois, and for handguns Nebraska, New York, and North Carolina require purchase permits, which may amount to a de facto waiting period if they are not issued immediately.