The U.S. Supreme Court will wade into Second Amendment waters again after granting certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez on Friday.
This edition of the high court generally favored gun rights in the cases it accepted. The trick has been to get the nine justices to agree to hear litigation of this type, as they have generally been reluctant to step into the Second Amendment battlefield.
Hawaii makes it virtually impossible for even a licensed citizen to carry
Hawaii is well known among gun rights advocates for an onerous and oppressive system that targets the shooting public. One of the most contentious features of the scheme is prohibiting licensed firearm carriers from taking their weapons onto private property unless there is prior expressed consent.
Activists dubbed this travesty the “Vampire Rule.” As with the fictional monsters, permit holders must be invited by the owner of the publicly accessible private property.
There are conflicting court decisions that SCOTUS will wade through.
Plaintiffs believe Hawaii’s restriction violates guidance from the high court’s Bruen decision
The plaintiffs noted this in their arguments to the bench. “Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding, in direct conflict with the Second Circuit, that Hawaii may presumptively prohibit the carry of handguns by licensed concealed carry permit holders private property open to the public unless the property owner affirmatively gives express permission to the handgun carrier?”
In September 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals combined multiple cases addressing the issue in Hawaii as well as California’s similar provisions.
The panel found that the Golden State’s restrictions were in violation of the Constitution but separately determined that Hawaii’s gun control regime could stand.
This directly led to the plaintiffs petitioning the Supreme Court for review, which was granted Friday. Gun rights advocates in Hawaii hope the high court will provide clear guidance based on the Second Amendment and 2022’s Bruen decision.
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