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Gun owners in Hawaii could soon be facing legal trouble for bringing their firearms into places like gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores. This new law, criticized by the Justice Department as “blatantly unconstitutional,” is setting the stage for a significant Supreme Court battle that could impact millions in states with similar regulations.
The Justice Department has thrown its support behind plaintiffs challenging Hawaii’s law, which restricts concealed carry permit holders from bringing guns onto private properties. The law makes it a misdemeanor to carry firearms into such areas unless there is clear written or verbal permission, or visible signage indicating consent from the property owner.
“Hawaii’s law plainly violates the Second Amendment,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi on X, the social media platform.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is seen speaking during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington this past October. On Monday, she declared that the DOJ had filed a brief in a Supreme Court case opposing Hawaii’s recent concealed carry measures. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The central question in the case of Wolford v. Lopez is whether states can legally prohibit concealed-carry license holders from carrying firearms on private property open to the public without explicit permission from the property owner, as outlined in a Justice Department brief submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday.
The Justice Department argues that Hawaii’s law clashes with the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That ruling determined that stringent permitting requirements for concealed carry licenses were in violation of the Second Amendment.
According to the Justice Department, the Hawaii law is in conflict with the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision, which found that strict permitting rules for concealed carry licenses violated the Second Amendment.
In New York, for example, applicants needed to prove that they had a special situation that necessitated a firearm for self-defense in public, such as having received active threats or carrying large sums of cash as part of their business.
Read the brief:
Hawaii’s new law, enacted after the Bruen decision, “effectively nullifies” newly available concealed carry licenses, according to the Justice Department brief.
“They realized they couldn’t do anything about not providing concealed carry permits, so instead they just made it illegal to carry in certain areas,” said David Katz, a former DEA agent and federal firearms instructor who is now the CEO of Global Security Group. “This is common to these anti-Second Amendment states.”
Katz, whose company is certified to teach concealed carry in New York and other states, said laws like Hawaii’s are designed to continue to limit lawful carrying despite the Bruen decision, something the Justice Department took notice of.
“Hawaii’s restriction is blatantly unconstitutional as applied to private property open to the public,” the DOJ brief reads. “States cannot evade Bruen by banning public carry through indirect means.”
A man draws a Glock .45 from an inside-the-waistband holster under his leather jacket. Under Hawaii’s new concealed carry rules, law-abiding gun owners cannot bring firearms to privately owned property that is open to the public without express permission to do so. (iStock)
Just like Bruen, which began in New York, impacted similarly restrictive laws around the country, the outcome of Wolford v. Lopez will, too.
“It’s not just Hawaii that is effectively banning public carry,” Bondi wrote on X. “California, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have similar laws. So a win in this case will restore Second Amendment rights for millions of Americans.”
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov is pictured at an anti-Israel rally in Brooklyn. She was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after images showed a handgun protruding from her waistband, but prosecutors were forced to drop the charges. (Inna Vernikov/X)
The national implications were quick to draw responses from Republican lawmakers in blue states.
Irina Vernikov, a New York City councilwoman who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after bringing a licensed handgun to a pro-Israel rally in 2023 amid a spike in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, thanked Bondi for intervening in the Hawaii case.
“It’s time for states like New York to stop acting like isolated nations that can ignore our federal law and the Constitution,” she told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “Every law-abiding citizen of this nation has the right to bear arms. Especially somewhere like New York, where Democrats in charge have enabled the worst kind of criminals to walk our streets, we must be able to arm ourselves for protection. I appreciate AG Pam Bondi and the DOJ for taking decisive action to protect our rights.”
The charges against Vernikov were ultimately dropped because the weapon in her waistband during the rally was not only not loaded, but she had also removed key components in advance, making it inoperable.
If she did need it for self-defense, she couldn’t have fired it.
