The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with gun rights activists in a challenge to Hawaii’s law attempting to ban concealed carry permit holders from carrying a firearm on private property — open to the public — without written consent from the owner.
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The 6-3 decision is a victory for Second Amendment advocates, where the GOP-appointed majority on the court said the state’s attempt to restrict the carrying of a gun by lawful individuals to places traditionally open to the public runs afoul of the Constitution. Individuals who have a carry permit in Maui and a gun rights group challenged the law.
Hawaii had moved to restrict the carrying of guns after the high court’s ruling in 2022 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen where the court said gun control laws could only be upheld if they are consistent with the founders’ interpretation of the Second Amendment dating back to the founding.
The GOP-appointed majority on the court, though, batted down Hawaii’s attempt to skirt that ruling by implementing increased restrictions on certain territories it deems off-limits for guns.
“The law now before us severely burdens the ability to carry a firearm in much of the rest of the State by prohibiting firearms on private property,” wrote Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the majority.
“The regime hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives. We hold that the law is unconstitutional.”
He was joined by the court’s other GOP appointees.
The high court’s three Democratic appointees, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from the ruling.
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They argued that there is evidence that founding era laws restricted guns being carried in certain areas — and that the decision conflicts with a property owner’s right.
“It fairly applies a first principle of property law — the right to exclude — and does no harm to the Second Amendment,” wrote Justice Jackson.
The case is the latest to test the boundaries of Second Amendment rights, following a string of rulings that have vastly expanded the understanding of the right but have recognized some limits.
In particular, the 2022 Bruen decision found that gun control laws must align with the country’s history and tradition of firearms restrictions to survive constitutional scrutiny.
As part of its evidence, Hawaii cited an 1865 Louisiana law, part of the so-called Black Codes, that forbade carrying guns on plantations without the explicit consent of the owner. It was aimed at formerly enslaved people.
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