Supreme Court Overturns Onerous Hawaii Gun Law

Gun rights advocates are cheering a Supreme Court decision that strikes down a Hawaii gun law that was so broad it essentially banned legal owners from carrying handguns anywhere.For years, Hawaii laws made it almost impossible to obtain a license to carry a firearm. In 2022, however, the Supreme Court held in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense.The state responded with a new law that made it easier to get a concealed weapons permit, but simultaneously prohibited firearms on private property that is open to the public without first getting consent from the property owner. Opponents said the law made it impractical for citizens with a firearm license to go anywhere with their weapon.The law has never been enforced because it was blocked by an injunction eight days before it was set to go into effect. The Department of Justice reversed its position when President Trump returned to the White House and argued against Hawaii’s law.In a 6-3 decision Thursday, the conservative majority found Hawaii’s law was “presumptively unconstitutional.” Justice Samuel Alito delivered the opinion. “This regime hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives,” Justice Alito wrote.Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointed to the Bill of Rights in a concurring opinion. “While most Hawaiians might prefer that no one carry firearms in public places, a majority’s opposition to a constitutional right is not a permissible basis for restricting it,” Justice Barrett wrote.Justice Elena Kagan wrote a short dissent stating that she would uphold the Hawaii law because “it is a modern-day analogue of colonial and founding era laws that similarly prohibited carrying firearms onto private property without the owner’s affirmative consent.”Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote her own 32 page dissent and was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “To hear the majority tell it, Hawaii’s law is a blatant attempt to end-run our Second Amendment precedents. But the statute at issue does no such thing,” Justice Jackson wrote. “Instead, it fairly applies a first principle of property law—the right to exclude—and does no harm to the Second Amendment,” her dissent continued.“Law-abiding gun owners will no longer be forced to beg for special permission simply to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms in public places,” the NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s executive director, John Commerford said in a statement.The Second Amendment Foundation had filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to strike the law down. “If a business does not want you to carry a firearm on the premises, the burden should be on the proprietor, not the private citizen, which would be in line with the ‘no soliciting’ or ‘no shoes, no shirt, no service’ signs we’re all familiar with,” the foundation’s executive director, Adam Kraut, said in a release. “Today the Supreme Court told Hawaii that such transparent attempts at banning constitutionally protected conduct will not be tolerated,” he went on to state.“Today’s decision in Wolford v. Lopez is a win for the right to keep and bear arms. Hawaii didn’t pass this law because it cared about private property rights,” Advancing American Freedom’s senior legal fellow, Amy Swearer said in a statement. “Its sole purpose was to vindictively punish lawful gun owners after the Supreme Court forced the state to recognize their right to bear arms in public for self-defense,” she continued.Four other states, including New York and California, passed similar laws requiring businesses to publicly post whether firearms are allowed on their properties. Those laws have also been blocked from going into effect.

Supreme Court Overturns Onerous Hawaii Gun Law

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