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In Hawaii, licensed gun owners could face legal challenges for bringing firearms to locations such as gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores. This stems from a new law that the Justice Department deems “blatantly unconstitutional,” potentially setting the stage for a significant Supreme Court case that might impact millions in states with stringent gun laws.
The Justice Department has submitted an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs who are contesting Hawaii’s recent legislation. This law restricts where individuals with concealed carry permits can take their firearms, categorizing it as a misdemeanor to carry on private property without “unambiguous written or verbal authorization” or where signage clearly permits firearms.
“Hawaii’s law clearly breaches the Second Amendment,” declared Attorney General Pam Bondi on the social media platform X.
Attorney General Pam Bondi made this announcement during a Senate Judiciary Committee session in Washington, D.C., in October. On Monday, she revealed that the DOJ had filed a brief related to a Supreme Court case challenging Hawaii’s new restrictions on concealed carry.
The pivotal question in the case of Wolford v. Lopez is whether the Second Amendment permits states to prohibit concealed-carry license holders from carrying firearms on private property open to the public without explicit permission from the property owner, as outlined in a brief filed by the Justice Department with the Supreme Court on Monday.
The Second Amendment is not a second-class right.
According to the Justice Department, the Hawaii law is in conflict with the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision, which found that strict permitting rules for concealed carry licenses violated the Second Amendment.
In New York, for example, applicants needed to prove that they had a special situation that necessitated a firearm for self-defense in public, such as having received active threats or carrying large sums of cash as part of their business.
Read the brief:
Hawaii’s new law, enacted after the Bruen decision, “effectively nullifies” newly available concealed carry licenses, according to the Justice Department brief.
“They realized they couldn’t do anything about not providing concealed carry permits, so instead they just made it illegal to carry in certain areas,” said David Katz, a former DEA agent and federal firearms instructor who is now the CEO of Global Security Group. “This is common to these anti-Second Amendment states.”
Katz, whose company is certified to teach concealed carry in New York and other states, said laws like Hawaii’s are designed to continue to limit lawful carrying despite the Bruen decision, something the Justice Department took notice of.
“Hawaii’s restriction is blatantly unconstitutional as applied to private property open to the public,” the DOJ brief reads. “States cannot evade Bruen by banning public carry through indirect means.”
A man draws a Glock .45 from an inside-the-waistband holster under his leather jacket. Under Hawaii’s new concealed carry rules, law-abiding gun owners cannot bring firearms to privately owned property that is open to the public without express permission to do so. (iStock)
Just like Bruen, which began in New York, impacted similarly restrictive laws around the country, the outcome of Wolford v. Lopez will, too.
“It’s not just Hawaii that is effectively banning public carry,” Bondi wrote on X. “California, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have similar laws. So a win in this case will restore Second Amendment rights for millions of Americans.”
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov is pictured at an anti-Israel rally in Brooklyn. She was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after images showed a handgun protruding from her waistband, but prosecutors were forced to drop the charges. (Inna Vernikov/X)
The national implications were quick to draw responses from Republican lawmakers in blue states.
Irina Vernikov, a New York City councilwoman who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after bringing a licensed handgun to a pro-Israel rally in 2023 amid a spike in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, thanked Bondi for intervening in the Hawaii case.
“It’s time for states like New York to stop acting like isolated nations that can ignore our federal law and the Constitution,” she told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “Every law-abiding citizen of this nation has the right to bear arms. Especially somewhere like New York, where Democrats in charge have enabled the worst kind of criminals to walk our streets, we must be able to arm ourselves for protection. I appreciate AG Pam Bondi and the DOJ for taking decisive action to protect our rights.”
The charges against Vernikov were ultimately dropped because the weapon in her waistband during the rally was not only not loaded, but she had also removed key components in advance, making it inoperable.
If she did need it for self-defense, she couldn’t have fired it.
