Waiting period

For the events leading up to the Six-Day War, seeWaiting period (Six-Day War).

Awaiting periodis the period of time between when an action is requested or mandated and when it occurs.

In the United States, the term is commonly used in reference togun control,abortionandmarriage licences,as some U.S. states require a person to wait for a set number of days after buying or reserving afirearmfrom adealerbefore actually takingpossessionof it, a woman waiting for anabortionand individuals making applications onmarriage licences.

Waiting periods are also used for newinsurance policies,particularlyhealth insurance,and alsoflood insurance.Incidents which occur during this time are not claimable.The term may also refer to the time between the making of a claim and the payment of it, also called theelimination period.

Inbusiness finance,a waiting period orquiet periodis the time in which a company making aninitial public offering(IPO) must be silent about it, so as not toinflate the value of the stock artificially.It is also called thecooling-off period.Inlean thinking,the period when materials orwork in processare waiting for the next stage of the manufacturing process is seen as one of the seven wastes (Japanese term:muda) which do not add value to a product.

Other activities potentially subject to waiting periods includemarriage,divorce,abortionaccess for women, andmergerproceedings.

For firearms purchases

A waiting period between purchase and handover of a firearm allows can have several purposes:

• Give the government time to perform abackground check.Modern electronic systems such as theNational Instant Criminal Background Check Systemcan produce an answer within a few minutes.
• Force a "cooling off" period for any potential buyer who may wish to commit acrime of passion.
• Allow someone contemplatingsuicideto reconsider their choice. Attempts at suicide by firearm have a higher success rate than most other methods, due to the fast and reliable lethality of carefully placed gunshots.

The Washington Postpoints toresearch collected by theCenters for Disease Control and Preventionand various papersexpressing a scientific assessment that:

• There is not enough reliable evidence to conclude whether or not a "cooling-off period" reduces homicides
• Evidence indicates that waiting periods reduce the suicide rate, and that people who buy firearms are more likely than the general population to commit suicide (presumably because some are buying them for that purpose)

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

See also

• Waiting period (Six-Day War)
• Waiting Period(novel byHubert Selby Jr.published in 2002)
• Queue (disambiguation)