The Patriot Post® · Hawaii Wants to Say 'Aloha' to Second Amendment Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a Second Amendment case challenging a firearms law in one of the nation’s most heavily restricted states, Hawaii.

Following the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, a decision that struck down restrictive gun-control laws in New York and a number of other blue states and upheld the right of the people to carry firearms in public, Democrats in Hawaii imposed another Second Amendment-squelching law using a slightly different strategy — redefining “in public.”

The law effectively classified the Aloha State as a de facto gun-free zone. Lawmakers created a “no guns” policy for all private property that is open to the public, such as gas stations and grocery stores, and the legislation forbids a person from carrying firearms in these places without the “express authorization” of the property owner. Violators face up to a year in jail.

In 2023, three Maui County residents raised a lawsuit, Wolford v. Lopez, over the new law, contending that it’s now “effectively impossible to exercise” their Second Amendment rights. This, of course, is Democrats’ goal with the legislation.

During oral arguments, it became apparent that the majority of the justices see the law the same way.

For example, Justice Samuel Alito said to Hawaii’s lawyer, Neal Katyal, “You are just regulating the Second Amendment to second-class status." Justice Brett Kavanaugh observed that it was a "pretty simple” case based on the Court’s recently established precedent.

Katyal attempted to argue the case on two fronts: that of Hawaii’s history and tradition, and private property rights.

However, the private property rights angle did not appear to move the Court. Chief Justice John Roberts noted that Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech cannot be restricted on private property rights grounds, as it is a “clear constitutional right” for a political candidate to knock on someone’s door. “But you say that it’s different when it comes to the Second Amendment,” Roberts said to Katyal. “What exactly is the basis for the distinction?”

Interestingly, in defense of the law, Katyal brought up a racist Civil War-era “Black Codes” law enacted in Louisiana that prevented freed slaves from legally owning firearms. Justice Neil Gorsuch called that “quite an astonishing claim,” and Justice Alito called it the “height of irony to cite a law that was enacted for exactly the purpose of preventing someone from exercising the Second Amendment right … as an example of what the Second Amendment protects."⁩

On the other hand, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared to find that persuasive: "I thought the Black Codes were being offered here under the Bruen test to determine the constitutionality of this regulation. And it’s because we have a test that asks us to look at the history and tradition.” So she’s appealing to racist laws meant to disarm blacks in order to undermine a decision she doesn’t like (Bruen). Truly, she has a dizzying intellect.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor also appeared to agree with Katyal, stating, “Is there a constitutional right to enter private property with a gun without an owner’s express or implicit consent? The answer has to be simply no.” Justice Jackson agreed with that, saying, “You don’t have a general right to carry on private property.”

The lawyer representing the gun owners, Alan A. Beck, responded, “It’s a right to carry in public, your honor, not a right to carry on public property.”

Katyal claimed that Hawaii has a long history and tradition of denying the right to carry firearms in public. However, “Hawaii can show no tradition behind its law,” argued Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris, who joined the plaintiffs in the case. “From the founding, the tradition has been opening the property to the public authorizes carrying.”

Given the Supreme Court’s conservative makeup and its history of siding with protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights, the odds are good that its decision, expected in June, will be against Hawaii.