Second Amendment advocates know well that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not been a friend to gun rights in recent years. This makes last week’s legal action by the powerful agency even more satisfying.
On Thursday, the DOJ filed an amicus brief in Wolford v. Lopez, a key civil rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The plaintiffs challenged Hawaii’s indefensible reaction to the landmark 2022 Bruen ruling, which greatly enhanced the Second Amendment’s legal stature after decades of attacks.
Hawaii was one of several states that mocked the high court’s decision.
State lawmakers banned citizens from possessing weapons on any private property that is publicly accessible without expressed permission. This, in effect, means that most of the state is a no-go zone for armed individuals who wish to exercise their right to self-defense.
For example, a concealed carry permit holder could not just enter a restaurant with their lawful weapon and order lunch. At least, not without a sign stating that the owners approve, which is not likely to be there.
Despite Bruen’s clear guidance, Hawaii essentially bans the public carry of firearms. To make matters worse, the Ninth Circuit inexplicably determined that the state law withstood constitutional scrutiny.
Obviously, there is no history of bans on lawful carry such as those enforced by Hawaii lawmakers. That fact did not deter the Ninth Circuit, and now it’s time for the Supreme Court to defend its judicial authority.
U.S. Solicitor General Dean John Sauer urged the high court, which has been reluctant to take on gun rights cases since Bruen, to step forward and clarify the issue.
“The preliminary injunction posture in which this case arises should not deter this court from granting review,” Sauer declared. “The court of appeals did not decide this case in haste; to the contrary, it issued an 81-page opinion nearly a year after petitioners appealed it.”
The solicitor general used the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s previous words to bolster his case for review.
“The Second Amendment, which binds the States by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment, provides: ‘A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’” Sauer wrote. “In NYSRPA v. Bruen, this Court held that the Second Amendment guarantees ordinary Americans a ‘general right to publicly carry firearms’ for lawful purposes such as self-defense.”
The DOJ asserted that the lack of direction from the Supreme Court on such a pivotal constitutional issue means that lower courts “have struggled to interpret the Second Amendment.”
The venerable National Rifle Association (NRA) threw its considerable weight into the argument by filing another amicus brief with the support of a broad coalition of Second Amendment rights groups.
The NRA brief explained that if the high court denies certiorari, the right to carry in Hawaii will virtually evaporate for several years while the legal process churns.
The organization wrote, “Individuals who have gone through the trouble of getting a concealed carry permit (CCW) will be limited to carrying on some streets and sidewalks, in banks, and in certain parking lots. Everything else is off limits, including 96.4% of the publicly accessible land in Maui County.”
The NRA noted that, merely three years after Bruen, Hawaii is now a de facto no-carry state. Under current law, the Supreme Court’s protection of gun rights does not extend to the Aloha State, and citizens are deprived of a fundamental constitutional freedom.
Despite its general reluctance to take up such cases, it is critically important for the Supreme Court to step up and provide clarity where currently there is none. A ruling upholding the Second Amendment’s scope would go far toward enshrining gun rights for all.
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