What could it mean now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a 2023 gun law in Hawaiʻi?
The state law required gun owners to get permission before bringing their concealed carry weapons to private properties open to the public — areas like malls and gas stations. It’s sometimes known as a “vampire law,” and it was deemed unconstitutional by the high court last week.
That could mean more weapons are allowed into crowded spaces.
Proponents argue the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to carry their weapons in public, and that it could give them more ability to defend themselves in a potential attack.
“By creating a disarmament zone where you don't have anybody there that could possibly protect themselves or protect others, that actually makes it far worse,” said Kevin O’Grady, a Hawaiʻi-based attorney who represented the Hawaii Firearms Coalition in the Supreme Court case. “ You're just creating enormous zones where the criminals have the ability to do whatever they want.”
But Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment Litigation at Everytown Law, said research defies the argument that having a gun is beneficial to one’s safety.
“The social science shows that that's just wrong. Somebody who is carrying a gun is actually more likely to be injured than somebody who is not carrying a gun,” Carter said, adding that it would be “impossible to explain the fact that states that have the strongest gun laws are also the ones that have the lowest rates of gun violence.”
Hawaiʻi has one of the strictest sets of gun regulations in the U.S., and also has one of its lowest rates of gun violence. The state's 63 gun deaths in 2024 represented the lowest rate in the country, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Carter also said that more guns in the public can have other impacts.
“It goes beyond physical violence and injury. There's also research that shows that there's very significant chilling effects from having guns in public places, and you especially see that with respect to things like public demonstrations — people being less willing to go to a demonstration or to express an unpopular viewpoint if they know that guns are present,” she said.
Generally, there has been an increasing number of guns in the state.
According to a report by the state Attorney General, firearm registrations jumped by 227% in Hawaiʻi between 2000 and 2024 — from 13,600 to 44,600 registered firearms — though that number has trended down since 2021.
Carter and O’Grady said additional lawsuits are likely coming to bring down more Hawaiʻi gun regulations.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court puts the responsibility of where guns are allowed into the hands of private owners, who can — and must — put up signs prohibiting guns on their properties.
“The result of this decision is that … business owners can now take safety into their own hands, and they should do so,” Carter said.
The court’s ruling also affects similar laws in a handful of other states.
