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. In the Ninth Circuit, Hawaii cited a 1771 New Jersey law and an 1865 Louisiana law that mandated gun wielders get owner consent before bringing guns onto any form of private property.

The gun owners challenging this law argue that the Louisiana and New Jersey laws are historical outliers. And they note that the state law restricts Hawaiians’ ability to live their lives as they can be barred from social spaces.