The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 2023 Hawaiʻi law requiring people to get permission to carry guns into stores, hotels and other private property open to the public. Thursday’s ruling means people will be able to carry guns onto privately owned property unless owners specifically say they can’t.
Here’s a look at the Wolford v. Lopez decision and what it means for Hawaiʻi.
Hawaiʻi gun laws
Hawaiʻi has long had some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
In 2023, it enacted a new law expanding the rights of people to carry concealed weapons after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the prior year that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. Thousands more people in the islands obtained gun permits after this decision.
The new law at the same time prohibited people from taking guns to a variety of places, like beaches, hospitals, stadiums and bars serving alcohol.
The law included a provision saying private businesses that allow guns would have to post signs saying so. Guns were banned by default at businesses without such signs.
Such regulations are sometimes called "vampire laws." The name comes from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula," in which the Count could not go into a home unless someone in the household bid him to enter.
Before 2022, Hawaiʻi law gave county police chiefs the discretion to determine whether to issue gun owners a carry permit. Police chiefs issued only six permits in two decades, meaning it was virtually impossible for civilians to carry guns in the islands. People were only allowed to keep firearms in their homes and to transport them — unloaded and locked up — to shooting ranges, hunting areas and other limited places like repair shops.
Second Amendment rights vs property rights
Hawaiʻi argued its 2023 law ensured private owners could decide whether they wanted firearms on their property. A few other states have enacted similar laws.
A gun rights group, the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, and three people from Maui, sued to challenge this provision of the law.
The plaintiffs said their Second Amendment right to publicly carry firearms meant they had the right to go into a store with a gun as long as they had a concealed carry permit. Hawaiʻi argued its law protected property owner rights to exclude anyone armed with a firearm.
The ruling doesn’t affect other state restrictions on guns in places like parks, beaches and restaurants that serve alcohol.
More legal challenges coming
Kevin O’Grady, an attorney for the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, said the ruling adheres to Supreme Court precedent and affirms that the Second Amendment “is not a second-class right.”
“What this means is that if you go somewhere now, you don't have to get pre-permission before you even set foot in the parking lot or the establishment,” O’Grady said.
He said he hopes more aspects of Hawaiʻi's gun law will be struck down by additional legal challenges.
“Hawaiʻi is a prime target because they have passed this spider web of cases that are specifically designed to stop the exercise of the Second Amendment,” O’Grady said. “So, there are a number of lawsuits that are going to be coming.”
Possible legal amendment
Gov. Josh Green said Attorney General Anne Lopez was carefully reviewing the court’s decision and evaluating its implications for Hawaiʻi law, state policies and ongoing enforcement.
Green said in a statement that the ruling was “not great” but Hawaiʻi would follow it. The governor said he treated many people wounded by accidental gunfire while working as an emergency room physician. He also shared that he lost an uncle and a cousin to self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
“Having more guns in society, we will have more of these incidents, but Supreme Court made that ruling, so we’ll abide by it,” Green said.
Rep. David Tarnas, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the ruling doesn’t undermine the central foundation of Hawaiʻi’s 2023 concealed carry weapon law. But lawmakers may need to amend it to make it clear that property owners will have to post signs saying guns aren’t allowed if they don't want them.
Honolulu already did this when it passed a law to comply with the court’s 2022 decision, he noted. Some Oʻahu businesses and offices have posted such language in their windows now.
“So now property owners will have to put up signs saying that 'no guns allowed,'” Tarnas said. “So that's the only change that will be needed here in our implementation of the overall concealed weapon law that we passed.”
Businesses say
The ruling may lead more Hawaiʻi hotels to put up signs explicitly forbidding guns, said Jerry Gibson, the president of the Hawaiʻi Hotel Alliance. Members of his group own and operate 29,000 rooms around the state.
Business owners might not want guns on site because accidents can happen, particularly in places where alcohol is served, he said. Hotels may also be thinking of visitors from countries with strict gun laws, like Japan.
“We draw a lot of international guests here. There's a lot of different cultures that come here to Hawaiʻi, and some are very unfamiliar with gun cultures, so some may be very uncomfortable,” Gibson said.
The hotel industry will need to train staff to be ready for these changes, said Gibson.
“We need to be ready for this, and I think that there'll be long discussions about it coming up,” Gibson said.
Mark Ladao contributed to this report.
