Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law restricting guns on private property that's open to public

Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii restriction that prohibits concealed-carry permit holders from bringing their firearms onto private property that is open to the public unless they receive permission from the owner.

In a 6 to 3 decision in the case Wolford v. Lopez, the high court sided with a group of gun owners and a gun-rights group who argued that Hawaii's rule restricting where they could carry firearms violates the Second Amendment. 

The Hawaii law requires people with concealed-carry permits to receive permission before bringing their guns onto private property that is open to the public — places like gas stations, restaurants or shops. But in an opinion from Justice Samuel Alito, the high court's conservative majority ruled that Hawaii's restriction "hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives."

"The Second Amendment has the same meaning in all parts of the United States," Alito said. "It cannot give way to 'the spirit of Aloha' in Hawaii." 

The ruling in favor of the gun owners follows the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in which the high court recognized for the first time that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to carry a firearm outside the home.

That decision laid out a new framework for courts to apply when determining the constitutionality of a gun restriction, which requires the government to show that a measure is rooted in the nation's historical tradition of firearms regulation. The first test of that new standard came in 2024, when the Supreme Court upheld a federal law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from having guns. 

The high court said last week in a case involving a federal firearms restriction that the government cannot automatically disarm people who regularly use marijuana and are not dangerous. 

The Supreme Court's ruling does not impact Hawaii's other restrictions on guns in places like bars, beaches or parks, which were not at issue in the case, or sensitive locations like schools or government buildings.

In a dissenting opinion by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Jackson argued the case is not about gun rights, but rather property rights, since there is no constitutional right to enter private property without permission. Jackson accused the Supreme Court's majority of manipulating its 2022 Second Amendment decision "into a free-for-all that lets the judiciary thwart the will of legislatures by privileging access to firearms above all else." 

"Today's decision makes one thing clear: the court's objective is protecting guns, not consistently preserving any principle of law," Jackson wrote.

Justice Elena Kagan authored her own dissent, saying that Hawaii's law is similar to colonial and founding era laws that barred carrying of firearms onto private property without the owner's consent.

Hawaii's law, which has been dubbed the "vampire rule," requires armed concealed-carry permit holders to seek permission before entering private property that is open to the public. Carrying a gun without that permission is a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to one year in prison.

Hawaii is one of five states with laws presumptively restricting carry by license-holders on private property, though similar measures in New York, California and Maryland have been blocked by courts. In the remaining 45 states, licensed handgun owners can generally carry arms onto publicly-accessible private property.

The limits on the places people in Hawaii could bring their firearms were signed into law following the Supreme Court's 2022 landmark gun rights decision.

The dispute dates back to 2023, when three Maui County residents and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition challenged the state's default rule as a violation of the Second Amendment. A federal district court sided with the challengers, finding Hawaii's restriction likely violates the Second Amendment as applied to property that is accessible to the public. 

But after the state appealed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld Hawaii's law.

The Trump administration backed the gun owners in the case and argued that the measure was "blatantly unconstitutional" and effectively prevented public carry, as any armed permit holder risked committing a crime simply by stopping to put gas in their car or running errands at a grocery store.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in January and appeared likely to side with the gun owners.