The U.S. Supreme Court seemed likely to strike down Hawaiʻi restrictions on carrying guns into stores Tuesday in the justices' latest firearm case since their landmark decision expanding Second Amendment rights.
The Trump administration backed the challenge to the law barring guns in places like malls and hotels unless the property owner specifically allows them. It's sometimes referred to as a “vampire rule," for its permission requirement.
Hawaiʻi said the measure is aimed at ensuring private owners have the right to decide whether they want firearms on their property.
The conservative justices who form the court's majority seemed roundly skeptical of the state's argument, questioning whether Hawaiʻi could make similar rules restricting First Amendment freedom of speech rights on private property.
“You’re just relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status,” Justice Samuel Alito said.
Very few people had concealed-carry permits to carry guns in Hawaiʻi before the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that found the Second Amendment generally gives people the right to have firearms in public. The state has granted thousands since then, attorney Neal Katyal said.
Four other states have enacted similar laws, though presumptive restrictions for guns on private property have been blocked in places like New York.
If the court strikes the measure, Hawaiʻi business owners could take their own steps to bar people from bringing in guns. The outcome won’t affect other state restrictions on guns in places like parks, beaches and restaurants that serve alcohol.
The case came before the court after it was challenged by a gun-rights group and three people from Maui. A judge originally blocked it, but an appeals court allowed it to be enforced.
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision by late June.
The justices are hearing another gun case this term, about whether people who regularly use marijuana and other drugs can legally own guns.
In recent years, the justices have struck down a federal ban on gun accessories called bump stocks from Trump’s first term. They upheld regulations on ghost guns imposed under then-President Joe Biden, however, as well as a federal gun law intended to protect domestic violence victims.
Previous AP coverage from Jennifer Sinco Kelleher continues below:
Hawaiʻi’s gun laws, long among the strictest in the nation, will be the focus of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court is taking up the state's ban on firearms on private property that is open to the public, such as stores and hotels, unless the owner explicitly allows it.
Here's what to know about the case:
Banned on beaches, bars and private property
Three Maui residents sued in 2023 to challenge new laws prohibiting the carrying of guns at places such as beaches, banks, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
The plaintiffs argue that Hawaiʻi is infringing on people's Second Amendment rights. They say they want to protect themselves at isolated beaches, and many property owners do not put up “guns allowed” signs for fear of scaring off customers.
Carrying guns in public is still fairly new to Hawaiʻi. Before a 2022 Supreme Court decision expanded gun rights nationwide, the state's county police chiefs made it virtually impossible by rarely issuing permits for either open or concealed carry.
That ruling prompted Hawaiʻi to retool its laws, and Democratic Gov. Josh Green signed legislation allowing more people to carry concealed firearms while limiting where they could be carried.
Supreme Court only considering one aspect of the restrictions
A federal judge in Honolulu blocked the restrictions, and the state appealed.
In 2024, a three-judge appeals court panel reversed most of the judge's ruling, saying the state could bar firearms on beaches and at parks, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and on private property without the owner's consent.
The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to decide one issue alone: the default rule that guns cannot be carried on private property open to the public unless the owner gives verbal permission or posts a sign saying they are allowed.
Their attorney, Alan Beck, has led numerous challenges to firearms restrictions over the years, though this will be his first time arguing before the Supreme Court.
“I think this is a good opportunity to highlight Hawaiʻi to the rest of the nation,” Beck said. “A lot of times Hawaiʻi doesn’t get to be part of the national conversation ... because it’s an insular place off in the Pacific.”
The right to self-defense vs. the right to keep guns off private property
If the default rule regarding private property can be enforced, Beck said, “the Second Amendment right to carry firearms for self-defense will effectively be eviscerated.”
He noted that the case includes declarations from Maui business owners who are willing to welcome gun carriers but do not want to put up signs, in part because tourists from Asia and Europe are unaccustomed to the general public toting firearms.
Chris Marvin, a Hawaiʻi resident and gun violence prevention expert with Everytown for Gun Safety, said the private property restriction “is built upon the courtesy we all grew up with: You don’t walk into someone else’s home or a local mom-and-pop shop with a weapon unless you know for a fact that you’re welcome to do so.”
A mixed tradition on gun ownership
Along with some of the nation's strictest gun laws, Hawaiʻi has some of the lowest rates of gun violence.
But Beck said it's a misconception that the state's residents dislike guns.
“Especially on the outer islands, Hawaiʻi has a vibrant hunting culture that respects firearms just as much as any state on the mainland,” Beck said.
The 2022 Supreme Court ruling found that people have a constitutional right to carry in public, and measures restricting that must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
In briefs to the Supreme Court, Hawaiʻi notes that long before it became a state, during the Hawaiian Kingdom, King Kamehameha III prohibited people from possessing deadly weapons, and subsequent laws maintained strict restrictions on firearms.
“And what is the American Historical tradition? Well, it is a blending pot of many cultures,” said Billy Clark, senior litigation attorney with Giffords Law Center, which filed a brief supporting Hawaiʻi in the case. “To me a proper inquiry into historical tradition would consider all of the cultures that have come together to make America.”
Beck disagreed, saying, “The laws of a monarchy that predates the United States is not part of our American tradition of constitutional rights.”
