Supreme Court to hear challenge to Hawaii's limits on guns

"The Supreme Court waded Friday back into gun-rights in a case that tests the constitutionality of a Hawaii law that restricts where gun owners can carry their weapons. At issue is the state law that bans guns on private property that is open to the public places like clubs, bars and restaurants unless the property's owners have allowed them. The Ninth Circuit, which oversees Hawaii, held that the 2023 law is constitutional."

"The Second Circuit disagreed and paused an identical New York law. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 struck down a century-old gun law in New York and ruled that there is a a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self defense. The court could use the Hawaii case to further broaden gun rights. Historical analysis will be at the heart of the arguments at the court in this case."

The Supreme Court will decide whether Hawaii's 2023 law that bans firearms on private property open to the public unless owners permit them violates the constitutional right to carry. The Ninth Circuit upheld the law while the Second Circuit paused an identical New York statute. The Court's 2022 decision recognized a constitutional right to carry handguns in public for self defense. Historical statutes, including a 1771 New Jersey law and an 1865 Louisiana law requiring owner consent, form core evidence. Challengers call those statutes outliers and argue the law bars access to social spaces, limiting daily life for licensed gun owners.

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