The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released its decision in Wolford v. Lopez Thursday and ruled that Hawaii’s law regarding concealed carry on private property violates the 2nd and 14th Amendments.
The law bars licensed concealed carriers from being armed on private property for self-defense without first receiving the affirmative consent of the property owner. The case came to SCOTUS after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law.
The SCOTUSBlog summarized the decision: “The court holds Hawaii’s law barring licensed concealed-carry permit holders from carrying handguns on private property open to the public without the property owner’s express authorization violates the 2nd and 14th Amendments.”
Justice Samuel Alito wrote SCOTUS’s majority opinion, explaining that Hawaii responded to Bruen (2022) by placing limitations on concealed carry:
Hawaii responded by replacing its old law on carry permits with new laws that achieved a similar result. On a large portion of the land within the State’s boundaries, possession of a firearm is now flatly prohibited. And the law now before us severely burdens the ability to carry a firearm in much of the rest of the State by prohibiting firearms on private property without the express and affirmative consent of the property owner. This law departs sharply from the standard common-law rule on access to private property held open to the public. Under that rule, everyone, including those lawfully carrying firearms, may enter unless expressly prohibited from doing so. By contrast, under the new Hawaii law, no one carrying a firearm may enter without the property owner’s express authorization.
He went on to explain that SCOTUS tested Hawaii’s gun control via Bruen’s two step analysis and it failed the test.
Alito wrote: “The Hawaii law at issue here violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
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